MacBook Air Guessing Game

We’re less than two days away from Apple’s Back to the Mac event and as expected, there’s a rush of rumors about the product that may be announced at the event alongside possibly a new version of Mac OS X, and that is, a new MacBook Air.

The MacBook Air is one Mac notebook that hasn’t been updated since June 2009 and is long overdue for a refresh. The design of this notebook hasn’t changed one bit since it was introduced in January 2007 despite other MacBooks seeing complete make overs and seemingly a shift in the general design principle.

The little engine

Last year the MacBook Air went from an underpowered yet stylish and expensive notebook to an underpowered yet stylish and less expensive notebook. Its Intel Core 2 Duo processor options were bumped up slightly from 1.6GHz and 1.86GHz to 1.86GHz and 2.13GHz and the price went down for the low end from $1799 to $1499 and for the faster model from $2499 to $1799.

Just about everything else remained the same, 2GB RAM, 120GB storage drive, Nvidia GeForce 9400 graphics with 256MB shared DDR 3 SDRAM. Even the model number remained as MacBookAir2,1 since October 2008, signifying minor updates.

Given the minor upgrades it received since first introduced, it won’t be a surprise if it hasn’t been selling that well considering the only strength it has is the lack of weight. Unfortunately the iPad has taken that crown and with one third of the price too, which leaves the MacBook Air a less than desirable option for light, on the go computing.

Rumors of new models

The popular rumor making the rounds is that the MacBook Air will come in two types, a standard 13.3-inch model and an 11.6-inch model.

According to Engadget, the new MacBook Air will keep the 13.3-inch screen size and feature plenty of batteries to allow it to run all day but with no recognizable hard drive. Perhaps Apple has decided to use the kind of storage components used in the iPod touch, iPhone or iPad, or perhaps even some other kind of non-volatile memory.

Apple Insider has been a strong proponent of an 11.6-inch version and maybe we’ll see that too. Maybe we’ll see two versions of light Apple notebooks.

It’s also possible that Apple may drop the popular white MacBook and replace it with one of the new notebooks.

Apple used to differentiate between professional and consumer computing but lately that line has been blurred. Both the white MacBook and the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro share similar specifications, differing only in appearance and additional ports in the Pro model.

It’s likely that the white MacBook hasn’t been phased out because Apple so far hasn’t managed to come up with a proper replacement. Maybe now it has.

There is also the issue of price points. The MacBook is sold at $999 while the most affordable MacBook Pro is at $1199. Pricing the 11.6-inch model lower than $999 would place consumers at a crossroads between the small notebook and the 64GB iPad. More than $999 may place the new product at a premium compared to the base MacBook. This however may still happen as Apple priced the stylish MacBook Air alongside one of the powerful 15-inch Pro models

Whichever route Apple decides to take, the world of computing will certainly be watching and there will definitely be more analysis of its decision afterwards.