Apple to launch new MacBook Air and Mac Pro lines

12 Jul 2011

As well as a new line of MacBook Air notebook computers, Apple is also believed to be planning to release a new line of Mac Pro machines. In tandem, OS X Lion is also expected to arrive in the coming days.

According to 9to5 Mac, part numbers suggesting an upgraded MacBook Air line have appeared alongside part numbers for a series of an upgraded Mac Pro model.

New MacBook Air machines equipped with the new ThunderBolt connector have been expected and Mac Pro machines sporting the ultra-fast I/O connector technology certainly makes sense.

These will be the first Macs that will ship with the new OS X Lion operating system, which is expected to launch on the Mac App Store on 14 July.

Lion apps for the Mac App Store

According to a report on TechCrunch, Apple has written to Mac developers urging them to submit their Lion apps to be on the Mac App Store when Lion ships this month.

Apple announced during its WWDC keynote that the next version of OS X – Lion – will be available from July for around US$29, exclusively via the Mac App Store.

This represents a massive drop in price from the US$129 it would have cost for the packaged version in stores.

Apple also revealed Mac sales have grown 28pc in the last year while PC sales have shrunk 1pc.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com