MacBook Air 2011: What things will we probably see in the refresh

It is expected that a new MacBook Air will be released in the middle of July 2011 (in a few days).

This is of course all speculation:

Most Probable:
– 17W Sandy Bridge Processors (i5/i7 in the 13 inch, possibly i3/i5 or i5/i7 in the 11 inch)
– Thunderbolt port

Very Likely:
– Improved SSD technology
– Improved facetime camera

On the table but really nothing we can count on:
– Backlit keyboard
– 4GB standard RAM
– Increased baseline storage capacity of SSD

On the table but leaning toward more unlikely:
– 25W i7 chip in the 13-inch model

Unlikely/Major stretch:
– Some sort of graphics solution beyond the HD 3000
– Screen improved to IPS panel
– Improved screen resolution
– Significantly notable battery life improvement
– Notable change to the shell
– Built-in 3G or 4G network card or something of the sort (Apple’s push for cloud; could be more likely than just a major stretch)
– Improved screenspace use (particularly a larger screen while maintaining the same enclosure, or slightly smaller enclosure in the 11.6-inch version which has quite a thick border around the screen)

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Via MacRumors Forum

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Post author: Daniel Semper