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Apple seems to be dedicated to promoting the new iPad as the ultra-portable device of choice. Development of the Macbook Air, it seems, is non-existent.

On the other hand, other companies have proposed their own versions of the original Air concept (such as Asus' eeePC and other so-called "netbooks").

Looking at the specifications, it's getting harder - if not impossible - to make the case for the MacBook Air as a rational choice.

So, what future for the Air?

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Nikon D90 + MB-D80 + SB-600 + AF-S VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 + AF-S 35mm f/1.8 + AF 85mm f/1.8 | My photos on Flickr.

Hard one to answer! Like you said we have only heard about the iPad, the MacBook Pro (now updated), and a little about the Mac Pro. But nothing abou the MacBook Air...
I think we are going to see a Intel i3 processor, better battery life, and bigger HDD/SSD. But we will see at the WWDC (late June, start of July, 28/06-02/07? )

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Victor
Nikon D300 - Nikkor 16-85 VR - Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR I
www.victorhoffmann.com

The future for the Macbook Air seems to be out in the air.

When the latest update for the MacBook Aair came out, I think it was quite competitive on specs for a laptop that provided this level of build quality and portability. Apple just needs to not screw up the next update.

I'd like to see the Core i7 LMs or UMs in the next revision but I doubt it will happen.

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Graham
Flickr

That's rather unlikely. I expected the Macbook Pro 13" to have either had the Core i5 or an i3, but this was not done because the 13" model was too small. If the 13" is not large enough for an Core iX, it's doubtful that the Macbook Air is going to be large enough.

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PhilipGoh.com

@pgtips
You're absolutely right I guess i was a little to fast, and not looking at the 13" MBP first

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Victor
Nikon D300 - Nikkor 16-85 VR - Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR I
www.victorhoffmann.com

I personally think that Apple are making excuses. Check out the Sony Vaio Z which is a 13" laptop with a 1080p screen and a Core i7! It's lightweight and has decent battery life too.

Now why can't Apple do that?

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PhilipGoh.com

no idea why apple cant squeeze an i7, 1080p into a 13" laptop like sony..

My answer (my opinion): Apple sucks, Apple is just for the brilliant design and awkward cooling design (no air intake?, suffers from heat), they're still using stone age hardware and doubling the price.... its a greedy company that is all.

No offence to the mac fan-boys.

If you don't go for Apple, then you are paying half the price for twice the speed. (I guess most of you know that)

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http://www.AnderssonPhoto.com
Cameras: Leica M8, Nikon FE-2, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 40D
Lenses: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm 1.4, Ultra Wide Heliar 12mm 5.6 ASPH II, Nikkor AI-S 28mm 2.8, Canon 24-70 2.8L, 85mm 1.2L II, 300mm 2.8L IS, TS-E 45mm 2.8, Sigma 105mm 2.8 Macro
Canon 1.4x/2X TC II, Canon 580EX II X2, Gitzo + Manfrotto.
Wishlist: Leica Monochrom, Summilux 50 ASPH, Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 ASPH II

I would be happy to have an i5 in the MacBook Air even if it meant using Intel's integrated graphics over the 320m in the MB. I doubt Apple would do this though especially after having to justify putting the Core Duos in the MacBook.

The first of the low voltage laptops are going to come out soon. I don't think Apple will refresh the MacBook Air in it's current state where the battery life is inferior to the rest of the range. I think it will be a good few months before we see anything or maybe if we're lucky, WWDC.

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Graham
Flickr

I'm going to use this thread for this particular question, as I'm sure MacBook Air users will see it.

The thing is, I just found a promotion over at a nearby store that would allow me to buy a MacBook Air Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz with the 128 Gb SSD drive for the current price of the one with the Core 2 Duo 1,86 GHz with a "regular" 120 Gb SATA drive. In other words, 1400 euros for gear currently priced at 1690 euros.

For photos, I only use iPhoto and don't plan on ever using Aperture nor Photoshop.

My current machine is a desktop iMac Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz with only 1 Gb RAM - and that's ok for my needs. It's just that I sometimes miss a laptop to do a little work on location, when I go for a short photography tour.

What I'd like to ask is what do you think of this promotion. I really like the extreme portability factor of the Air; but would I be better served by a (white) MacBook, that would cost me about 400 euros less?

PS: Er... there's also this chick I'd like to impress, so...

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Nikon D90 + MB-D80 + SB-600 + AF-S VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 + AF-S 35mm f/1.8 + AF 85mm f/1.8 | My photos on Flickr.

Id get a macbook. I have one and drag it around everywhere with me. From my experience they just seem to run faster than the macbook air's and theyre hardly what you call big.

Ps, I know nothing about computers!

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

Is it for photo editing on the or just for temporary storage, viewing and light touch-ups until you get back to your iMac? That SSD is likely to make a much bigger difference than the 0.3ghz boost (next Macbook will have 2.4ghz CPU) the MacBook will give unless your work is very CPU intensive. I don't know how portable you need it to be, but the MB isn't particularly light for a 13" notebook. Also, I think the chick is more likely to be impressed by the MBA.

EDIT: Just saw this. Maybe if you can wait a while longer....

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Graham
Flickr

The white MacBook 13" has just been updated up to 2.4 GHz and gets the NVIDIA GeForce 320M (supposed to be a big improvement over the previous 9400M).

As to the MacBook Air, no news.

Anyway, I plan on keeping the 20" iMac as the "work horse" for photo editing. The laptop will be used to do basic editing (let's say I need to see if I got the shot or if a second try is needed - the camera display is notoriously misleading when it comes to this). Maybe once in a while I'll use the laptop to upload low resolution photos to Flickr.

One other thing to consider is that I wouldn't want to carry around a "thief magnet", so that's one point against the Air.

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Nikon D90 + MB-D80 + SB-600 + AF-S VR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 + AF-S 35mm f/1.8 + AF 85mm f/1.8 | My photos on Flickr.