Sandy Bridge MacBook Airs With Thunderbolt Tipped For June

Well, crud. I knew the day was coming when my beloved 11-inch MacBook Air would become obsolete, but I hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. It appears those hopes are dashed: Apple will reportedly refresh the MacBook Air line in June, replacing the current Mini DisplayPort with their new 10Gbps bi-directional Thunderbolt I/O port.

The report comes from Apple Insider, who note that analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities has pinpointed the refresh thanks to sources in the Far Eastern supply chain.

If the MacBook Air makes a leap to Thunderbolt, it will also necessitated an upgrade to Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge line of processors… and, in fact, there are already a couple of low power Sandy Bridge chips that would make a great fit for the Air, which depends on power efficiency and a minimum of battery to maintain its sleek profile.

So if you haven’t bought a MacBook Air yet, hold off. In just two months, they will be faster both in terms of raw processing power and in terms of their transfer speeds to external devices. Whether Apple will be able to keep the price low and the battery life just as long, though, remains to be seen.

Comment »