14 DAY TRIAL // Most rumors say Lion will be accompanied by a MacBook Air refresh and while that’s most likely accurate, we wouldn’t bank on this single hardware upgrade.
Apple is preparing to launch Mac OS X Lion, the eighth major version of its desktop operating system.
Lion borrows key elements from iOS and puts them atop those that make OS X the best operating system in the world to make it even better.
It’s going to be a $30 upgrade for those who are currently up to date with the latest Snow Leopard build, and it’s going to be a free upgrade for those who recently bought themselves a new Mac.
If you’re part of that group, don’t pat yourself on the shoulder just yet.
While the MacBook Air is obviously due for a Sandy Bridge & Thunderbolt refresh, who’s to say the Mac mini, Mac Pro, and even the White MacBook aren’t getting them?
So far, only two Macintosh lines of computers have gotten their innards pimped out with the latest Intel enhancements - the MacBook Pro family, and the all-in-one iMac with its various configurations.
That leaves four hot-selling systems that are not up to feature parity just yet - including the White, polycarbonate MacBook.
If Apple doesn’t discontinue it this month, it may just end up selling for $899 ($100 less) equipped with even more RAM, storage, and the aforementioned CPU and connectivity upgrades.
Mac Pro workstations are also getting them, whether or not Apple decides on the rumored rack-mountable design.
Finally, the much affordable Mac mini will surely not get left behind, even if Cupertino decides it’s worthy only a CPU boost.
Any viewing angle of this whole situation should make it clear enough that if you’re thinking of buying a new Mac before Lion gets out, you may want to think again.
Look at it this way - if the hardware refresh doesn’t get confirmed, at least you don’t have to go through the paperwork to get that free Lion upgrade, not to mention downloading and installing it yourself.