MacBook Air Supplies Dry Up At Best Buy Online; Refresh Imminent

Best Buy online now lists Apple's MacBook Air as "not available for shipping," lending weight to expectations that the ultraportable will be imminently refreshed. All four of the current Core 2 Duo MacBook Air models are listed as unavailable for online purchase and delivery, at both Best Buy's US store and the retailer's UK network.

The move usually signifies that the retailer is reserving its remaining stock for in-store sales. Apple, meanwhile, still lists availability within 24 hours of all four versions of the Air. Nonetheless, Best Buy's move does certainly imply that an updated ultraportable is fast incoming.

That update, previously leaks have indicated, will include a Thunderbolt port – as we saw used with LaCie's dual-SSD Little Big Disk external storage last week – and Intel's 2011 Sandy Bridge Core processors. Physical design is unlikely to change significantly; when the MacBook Pro had a similar upgrade earlier this year, the only outward tweak was replacing the Mini DisplayPort logo with a Thunderbolt logo.

As for when the new MacBook Air models might arrive, there's talk that Apple is waiting until OS X Lion is ready before it pushes new units out the door. Lion isn't expected as an upgrade for existing users until sometime in July.

[via 9to5Mac]