Besides releasing its new Mac OS X Lion operating system, Apple also announced that it has updated the MacBook Air. The thin and light Air is now powered by the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors, which Apple says makes it up to twice as fast as the previous generation that employed Intel's Core 2 Duo processors. The graphics is handled by Intel's HD Graphics 3000 chipsets.

This new MacBook Air is still available in either 11" and 13" guises and features up to 4 GB of speedier 1333 MHz memory, a backlit keyboard, FaceTime camera, two USB 2.0 ports and operates on Apple’s new Mac OS X Lion.

Like the previous models it employs flash storage for instant-on responsiveness (64 GB, 128 GB or 256 GB storage options), but like the latest MacBook Pro, it now sports Thunderbolt I/O technology, offering speeds (ten gigabits per second) that’s up to 20 times better than USB 2.0 (480 Mbits/s). Wireless connectivity is also on offer thanks to 802.11 n Wi-Fi wireless networking, as well as Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology. No local release info is available yet.

“Portable, affordable and powerful, MacBook Air is the ultimate everyday notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “MacBook Air features our most advanced technology and is an ideal match for Lion, especially with its new Multi-Touch gestures, full-screen apps, Mission Control and Mac App Store.”

 

Apple also recently announced the financial results for its 2011 fiscal Q3 that ended on 25 June 2011, for which the iPhone and iPad maker posted a record quarterly revenue as well as a record quarterly net profit.