MacBook Air

Remember that peppy aftermarket 256GB SSD upgrade from PhotoFast that easily smoked (on paper anyway) the SSD found in Apple’s latest MacBook Air? It’s been halted upon Apple’s request before it ever went on sale, similarly to those HyperMac batteries before it. 9to5Mac first reported the news based on a source close to the company and we just confirmed it directly with the PhotoFast GM2_SFV1_Air product manager. The risk of losing access to Apple’s product licensing program was just too grave a threat to ignore. So, enjoy your 160MBps max SSD transfer rate and 128GB top-end capacity MBA 11 owners, you’ll get your storage and 250MBps sequential read/write speed bumps only when Apple’s good and ready to provide it themselves — possibly sooner, we’re told, if PhotoFast is given the green light to start sales after Toshiba’s SSD modules (Apple’s MBA partner) are available for purchase. ...

During a 90-minute presentation on Wednesday at Apple headquarters, Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s latest thinner MacBook Air 11-inch and 13-inch models, along with the new operating system. The redesigned Mac notebook combines features from the iPhone and iPad with those of a MacBook. The new MacBook Air features a multi-touch that offers you an iPad/iPhone-like experience. Instead of a hard drive, the new thinner, lighter and expensive Mac laptop uses flash storage. Jobs said that all notebooks will be like this someday and added that the Air is the future of the MacBook and all laptops. ...

Apple is cashing in on the popularity of its iPhone and iPad to boost demand for its oldest product, the Macintosh. The company launched a revamped MacBook Air at an event dubbed “Back to the Mac” at its Cupertino headquarters. The computer is seen as a marriage of what Apple has learned from desktop computing and mobile devices. Like the iPad, the Air will have no hard drive and rely on flash memory. ...

According to Australian Macworld, a new version of the MacBook Air may show up in the Apple Online Store tomorrow morning. The same source who correctly predicted the MacBook Pro refresh last month alerted Australian Macworld of a new Apple product number in the Apple database. The product number, MC516LL/A K87 BETTER BTR-USA, suggests that it is a Mac product (the “BETTER” nomenclature is the big clue there, as it often refers to the different tiers of Mac products). As AppleInsider also notes, it is possible that the number could refer to a new Apple Cinema Display, one that is 27″ and matches that of the 27″ iMac, but we’d place our bets on a new MacBook Air. ...