MacBook Air 2011 refresh to up minimum RAM and SSD capacities

As the supposed MacBook Air 2011 reveal nears, the frequency of related rumors appears to be growing.

This time, Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo told AppleInsider that MacBook Airs with just 2GB will be out of the equation. The new MacBook Air models will all instead carry 4GB of RAM as standard. This may be due to the higher requirements of the rumored Mac OS X Lion software that will supposedly make its debut with the 2011 MBA lineup as well.

Additionally, Kuo claims each Air model will come with a minimum 128GB SSD, meaning 64GB models will no longer exist for the 2011 series. Unfortunately, the analyst also shot down rumors reported just last week about soldered-in SSD drives. He expects the SSD to remain detachable to the notebook, possibly implying user-removability. Kuo, however, did acknowledge and confirm backlit keyboards for the 2011 lineup.

“Like iPhone and touch panel’s story, Apple is redefining the notebook and we believe our brand vendors will follow Apple’s design requirements so some components will benefit a lot from the trend such as metal casing, SSD, thermal module, slim hinge and backlight keyboard,” said Kuo.

The 2011 MBA is reportedly already in production with a launch within the coming months. Along with the upgrades mentioned above, each model is expected to sport ULV Sandy Bridge offerings from Intel as well.

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