jmke

Apple doesn't often do price cuts, but today it has given its entire lineup of MacBook Airs a $100 price reduction. The base 11-inch model now starts at $899, while the 13-inch model starts at $999. Stepping up to the $1,099 and $1,199 models (respectively) will get you a 256GB SSD instead of a 128GB one, and upgrading from 4GB to 8GB of RAM still costs $100 across the lineup.

New Haswell and next-generation Broadwell parts cater to DIY enthusiasts.
The laptops have also gotten a mild CPU refresh, and they graduate a 1.3GHz (2.6GHz Turbo) Core i5-4250U to a 1.4GHz (2.7GHz Turbo) Core i5-4260U. These CPUs are technically "new" but the architecture that powers them isn't—they're part of Intel's Haswell refresh, a mid-cycle bump that amounts mostly to small clock speed increases and improved overclocking potential on the desktop. Improvements to performance and battery life, especially in the tight quarters of a MacBook Air, will be marginal at best, and the $150 CPU upgrade option remains a 1.7GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) Core i7-4650U.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/04...100-price-cut/

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jmke

tempting! bought a Macbook Air in (late) 2010, and the CPU is a real bottleneck. But these new models with fast CPU, feature HD5000 intel GPU... which isn't necessiarly faster than the Geforce in the Air I have here

also Macbook Pro line is bound to get an update and prices of Macbook Air <> Pro configured with same storage/memory only differ 100-200

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Stefan Mileschin

Still have my Mid-2012 Macbook Pro 15'' and still enjoy it after the upgrade with a 256GB SSD (also in 2012). Won't swap it with with a non-upgradeable model unless it will become to slow to operate (do not game on it, have my PCs for that).