Rumor: New Haswell-powered MacBook Airs at WWDC

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By Jane McEntegart
published

The rumor mill is kicking into high gear now that WWDC is just days away.

While there are plenty of iOS 7 and iPhone 5S rumors when it comes to WWDC, this week brings chatter about another breed of Apple-brand hardware. According to the latest scuttlebutt, Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference could see the unveiling of some brand new MacBook Airs.

9to5 Mac cites information provided by a source in reporting that Apple will update its MacBook Air line. The new laptops will pack Intel's brand new Haswell CPUs, which were just announced this week, as well as faster WiFi, and a dual-microphone system.

Though WWDC kicks off on Monday and runs through to June 14, Apple has confirmed that the keynote address will take place on day one (Monday, June 10). The keynote address usually serves as the stage for launching any new products or hardware, and rumors about this year's WWDC have included everything from new Mac desktops, MacBooks, and an iPhone 5S to iRadio, iOS 7 and OS X 10.9. While it's unlikely all of these rumors will come to fruitition, it's shaping up to be a rather big week for Apple.

Tickets for WWDC cost $1,600 and the conference will feature 100 technical sessions from Apple engineers, over 100 hands-on labs (with more than 1,000 to provide assistance), the latest on OS X and iOS developments, lunchtime sessions, and the Apple Design Awards. Stay tuned and we'll bring you the latest as it happens!

Jane McEntegart
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ingtar33
    not a surprise. the iris pro has no market outside of apple, it was only a matter of time before you saw haswell in every type of mac out there... iris pro or no.
    Reply
  • Cryio
    Rumor? I think new hardware announcement is obvious, given Intel new CPUs
    Reply
  • Spooderman
    $1600 to go?!?!? Are you kidding me? I wouldn't even pay $16 to go to that.
    Reply
  • lamorpa
    Wait a minute. You're not saying that Apple is going to get Haswell processors (just like every other PC hardware manufacturer). Are you?
    Reply
  • Punkbuster
    WOOOOW what a shocker! Newer computer models are going to get newer processors? How much you want to bet that they are going to use the low and mid end haswells and the mark up the price of their laptops as if they were using the flagship CPUs?
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    Let me guess, the Apple Air will get a i7-4558U dual core 2.8/3.3GHZ chip with Intel HD 5200 (Iris) graphics.
    Gets about 13K on 3Dmark06. So then you can game really well on an Air and decent CPU power. But the 28w TDP may be a bit high for the Air, but that is combining the VRM now too, so I might be correct.
    Reply
  • ingtar33
    10927132 said:
    Let me guess, the Apple Air will get a i7-4558U dual core 2.8/3.3GHZ chip with Intel HD 5200 (Iris) graphics.
    Gets about 13K on 3Dmark06. So then you can game really well on an Air and decent CPU power. But the 28w TDP may be a bit high for the Air, but that is combining the VRM now too, so I might be correct.

    no.. the mac book air won't be getting iris pro... that's a $600+ dollar part. They can't afford to bump the price of the macbook air that much. No, the air worked fine with Intel HD 4000 graphics, they'll just stick the new haswell mobile chips with HD 4600 into the new airs and call it a day.

    The iris pro part is destined for the Mac Book Pro, which currently comes standard with an i7/650m cpu/gpu combo. That laptop is an expensive one, and can absorb a part $100 more expensive then it's current cpu/gpu combo, in exchange for the extended battery life and slightly worse graphics.

    Probably the only laptop we'll see on the market with the iris pro in it.
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    10927966 said:
    10927132 said:

    That may be true, yeah I didn't look at the price of that APU. I call it a Pentium Pro
    Maybe for laptop PCs it could go into low cost gaming laptops, compete with the Nvidia 760m and ATI(AMD) equivalent.

    Reply
  • x2ruff4u
    They need to release Haswell Macbook pros. Only than I will actually buy a Macbook.
    Reply