This week the folks at Apple have revealed a new generation for the MacBook Air at WWDC 2013 with a 4th Generation Intel core processor (Haswell.) This system works with Haswell ULT, made for notebooks to work with smart low-power states with “up to 30 days” of standby time. While the 5 hours of battery
Each June, just like clockwork, Apple refreshes its MacBook Air line — sometimes with a new design, and always with brand new processors. Well, today is June 10th, and it’s the start of WWDC, which means it’s time to bring out the 2013 models. The company just unveiled the new 11- and 13-inch Airs, both of which step up to Haswell CPUs and 802.11ac WiFi, and also promise significantly longer battery life. In particular, the 11-inch model claims nine hours of runtime, up from five, while the 13-incher is said to last 12 hours (up from seven). As for processing performance, you get fourth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, along with Intel HD 5000 graphics, which should translate to 40 percent faster graphics, according to Apple.
The one thing we can’t glean from Apple’s brief tease at WWDC is whether these new models boast higher-res screens than the previous-generation models. (We feel like Apple would make that clear if that were the case, no?) On the plus side, both models now come standard with 128GB SSDs (as opposed to 64 gigs on the 11-inch model). They’re available today, with the 11-inch version still priced from $999, and the 13-incher starting at $1,099.
Update: The Apple Store is once again live, which means we’ve had a chance to look at the product page for the new MacBook Air. As we suspected, the screen resolution has not changed.
Gallery: WWDC 2013: MacBook Air
Follow all of our WWDC 2013 coverage at our event hub.
Filed under: Apple
Source: Apple
This year’s big Apple developers conference has arrived, WWDC 2013, and SlashGear is now on the scene to bring the full top-to-bottom report to you, up close and personal. While the main entry point for Apple’s major keynote for this multi-day event will be accessible to you via SlashGear’s WWDC 2013 liveblog portal (starting at
Apple’s big WWDC 2013 keynote will be starting at 10AM PST tomorrow morning (that’s June 10th, if you did not know), and SlashGear will be bringing a liveblog to you straight from inside the Moscone Center. If the banners we’ve seen tied with the rumors, tips, and suggestions hold true, we’ll be seeing an event
Starting Monday, Apple’s 2013 iteration of their developers convention WWDC begins in San Francisco – and there’s a lot you’ll not be seeing. It’s not that there’ll be a lot of information under the skin and behind closed doors, that’s not what this is all about. Instead, it’s all about what’s still in the wings
Apple is set to deliver its WWDC keynote address on Monday June 10, and there are bound to be a lot of new things revealed on that day. The exact details remain shrouded in mystery, but as with every major Apple event, there have been lots of leaks and rumors leading up to this one, so we can at least sketch in broad terms what we’re likely in for next week.
I’m leading with Apple’s streaming music service, which is probably freshest in most people’s minds if you’ve been following the news today. That’s because the service (which may or may not actually be called “iRadio”) is now likely a done deal with all the major record labels, which should make it possible for Apple to preview it next week, though we’ll likely have to wait a few months for a general consumer release.
Apple’s iRadio service is supposedly a lot like Pandora, but with some added tricks, like the ability to pull from a user’s existing music library in order to offer up better, more personalized streaming content. The service is similar to Genius, according to 9to5Mac, but uses tracks from the entire iTunes catalog, not just those in a user’s library, and offers an easy method for iOS users to simply purchase tracks they hear with a tap directly through iTunes. Typically, DMCA streaming radio does not permit track skipping, but this may be a feature of iRadio, depending on how Apple’s negotiations with labels went.
iRadio will be free, if reports prove true, and instead make revenue for Apple and its music partners via advertising. That will likely take the form of audio ads that come up in the radio stream after a certain amount of tracks are played, according to reports this week from Bloomberg.
Apple’s iOS 7 has been the talk of the town for a while now, ever since reports back in early April suggested that Apple was planning a significant overhaul of the user interface, and that has been echoed in numerous reports ever since, including more recent information brought to light by 9to5Mac. Apple’s design guru Jony Ive is said to be taking the helm of the redesign, which is interesting because he’s an industrial designer, not a graphic designer, but the result is said to be a scaled back, simplified UI that embraces flat design principles in favor of textures that mimic real-world materials like canvas and aluminum. A new picture of the iOS 7 banner at Moscone West that surfaced today suggests we’ll see something clean and simple.
For the system itself, Apple is said to be including additional hooks for social network sign-in, including Flickr for photos and Vimeo for video, each of which will be accessible via the Settings app in the same way that Twitter and Facebook are currently available. Another new feature could be AirDrop, Apple’s easy file-sharing service introduced recently to OS X. That could be an amazing way to move files easily between desktops and mobile devices, especially for users who otherwise might have to resort to email or something.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also suggested that we’d see Apple begin to open up more APIs for developers to take more advantage of additional system and device features, but the extent of just how far things will go isn’t known, though we’ve already suggested some possible areas, including Siri.
We’ve also heard from a source that Apple might introduce blocking features for some of its own on-device services including iMessage and the phone app. This is something Apple has already secured a patent related to, too. It’s not something we’ve been able to reliably confirm, but it’s a possibility for either this version of iOS or one in the future, and it’s something that would definitely go further in terms of making iMessage feel like a proper competitor to third-party products in the same vein.
We’ll see this released as a beta for developers at WWDC, with a full launch likely to follow in fall alongside new iPhone (and potentially iPad) hardware.
This will be named after a big cat, but we don’t know which one yet. The changes we’ve seen rumored so far include mostly minor tweaks, like a new fullscreen mode that doesn’t render other displays completely useless, and tabs and tags added to Finder to make it more complete. For a preview of what this new Finder might look like, check out advanced 3rd-party Finder replacements like Path Finder. These are minor changes that might only be appreciated by a small subset of OS X users, but those who do appreciate them will find them very welcome.
Other changes to OS X include stuff under the hood for developers that will allow them to exploit some of these new power user features, and some reports indicate that Apple wants to bring more iOS into OS X, including via app multi-tasking and switching features that concentrate more on allowing apps to move into the background and take up fewer system resources.
We’ll likely see OS X 10.9 arrive later in the year, but developers stand a good chance of getting access at the WWDC event, possibly immediately following the keynote.
Apple isn’t supposed to be doing much in the way of hardware, but we’ve seen lots of reports that suggest at least some Macs will get updates at the event. The MacBook Pro with Retina display and the MacBook Air are two specific example, and there’s a chance (albeit a more remote one) that says we’ll see a new Mac Pro unveiled at WWDC, too.
New Mac notebooks are almost a sure thing, with retail sources reporting stock shortages, and 9to5Mac saying there are new SKUs showing up indicating at least refreshed MacBook Airs on the way. The new Macs will likely all boast Haswell chips from Intel, as that company announced the new processors just this week, and other hardware upgrades could include full-HD FaceTime webcams, dual-mics on the MacBook Air to match those introduced in the Retina MacBook Pro, and possibly faster Wi-Fi chips that support new breakneck 802.11ac networking speeds. If we do see those speeds added, it’s likely we’ll see Apple’s routers also updated to support that, too.
The new Mac Pro is a more remote possibility, but Apple has been doing a lot to talk up recently, alongside reports that we’ll see it made in the U.S. as well. Apple has confirmed it will be making a Mac in the U.S. this year, but it hasn’t said it’ll definitely be the Mac Pro. Still, the machine has languished for a long time now, receiving no significant update since July 2010 (it got a processor bump in 2012, but mostly because the part it was using before was probably being discontinued).
As for availability, expect new Macs to go on sale later in June if they are announced at WWDC, as Apple usually spreads out the ship date a little from the event itself when it debuts new Macs at these events.
Apple could announce all of the above, or just some of it at WWDC next week, but it probably still has at least one or two surprises up its sleeve. Will we see a new iPhone? Indications are pretty strong that we won’t. But still be sure to stay tuned as we bring you live coverage of everything they do announce, and hands-on impressions of new software and hardware they make available.
It’s probably a good bet that we’ll see MacBook refreshes at WWDC this year, including an update to Intel Haswell chips in all of the machines. However, it’s rumored that we’ll also see a slimmer MacBook Pro Retina model, as well as a better FaceTime camera, possibly boosting it up to full 1080p. KGI analyst
It’s that special time for Apple devotees: WWDC 2013 is next week, and that means a customary glimpse of where iOS and the Mac are going next. However, we’re getting everything but business as usual this year. The crew at 1 Infinite Loop has shaken up its software strategy, putting much of its emphasis on Jony Ive’s design chops and tighter collaboration between teams. Is Apple about to deliver major OS refreshes that some say are long overdue? And what about hints of new hardware introductions at the same time? We’ve gathered together some of the more notable rumors to help understand what Apple may introduce on June 10th — and what’s likely to remain wishful thinking.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Apple
At last year’s opening keynote during WWDC 2012, Apple introduced a refreshed line of Macs, so it would make sense for the company to do the same this year, and it seems that’s exactly what’s going to happen. According to a set of leaked SKUs, Apple has plans to refresh at least one of its MacBook lines with new models.
9to5Mac said they received a set of new SKUs that are most likely new MacBook Pro models. The first set includes SKUs MD711LL/A, MD712LL/A, MD760LL/A, and MD761LL/A. These SKUs are most likely associated with either the MacBook Air line or the MacBook Pro with Retina display, as each of these lines have two screen sizes with two different hardware configs.
The second set of SKUs are ME177LL/A, ME182LL/A, and ME918LL/A. No one’s really sure what these SKUs are for, but it’s likely a specific a screen size of a particular MacBook model will see a refresh, but we’re not sure if that’s case, as it would strange for Apple to focus only on a particular screen size for a refresh.
As far as what else we’ll see at WWDC this year, new Mac Pros could be on the menu, and it could be the first time in a few years that we’ll see a significant update to the tower computers. iOS 7 may also be unveiled, complete with a Jony Ive-designed user interface that will sport a flatter, minimalistic look and feel.
At this point, it could be anyone’s guess as to what exactly Apple will unveil next week. On top of a possible Mac Pro refresh, we’ve heard a full MacBook refresh is possible, as well as specifically new MacBook Airs to come our way next week. Furthermore, we’d be a bit shocked if Apple didn’t give a boost to their MacBook Pro Retina lineup, and with Haswell launching this week, we could easily see the new chips make their way into MacBooks and Mac Pros next week.
SOURCE: 9to5Mac
MacBook refresh incoming at WWDC as new SKUs leak is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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