Mar 09, 2017 02:13 AM EST By Donna Mills, UniversityHerald Reporter

Apple's MacBook Air badly needs an update. Fortunately, it seems that the laptop will get upgraded this year now that Best Buy has slashed the price of the current MacBook Air in its shelves.

Best Buy is offering a $200 discount for the 13-inch MacBook Air last month, meaning you can now have one for $799 from the regular price of $999. That 8 GB RAM laptop is powered by the Intel Core i5-5250U with a base clock speed of 1.60GHz and Turbo Boost up to 2.70GHz.

The retailer's price cut may be a sign that a new MacBook Air is coming. Others, however, think that Best Buy only wants to discharge of their old inventory and the best way of doing that it is to offer discounts.

Claims have circulated around the internet regarding the purported MacBook Air 2017. There are expectations that it will be announced between March and May, in keeping with Apple's MacBook launch schedules in past years, according to Macworld UK.

The MacBook Air 2017 is expected to come in two models: a 13-inch variant and the other at 15 inches. Both will be lighter and thinner than the current MacBook Air laptops. A 12-inch variant will likely be introduced, too, and that will have 16 GB of RAM. Another rumored feature is LTE connectivity.

The upcoming laptop will likely have Intel's seventh-generation processors -- specifically, the Kaby Lake chipsets to support Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2. That will please consumers who want strong processors for their laptop, but another report claimed that Apple will not use Intel processors for the laptop.

Dutch-language site Techtastic claimed that the laptop will run using a macOS processor called "ARM HURRICANE." The latter is unheard-of, but the possible Apple custom ARM chip sounds like the tech giant's other processors for iPads and iPhones: Cyclone (codename for the A7), Typhoon (the A8) and Twister (the A9).

Apple is also reportedly working on a processor that will boost its laptops' battery life. According to Bloomberg, the new chip will be able to handle basic tasks such as update installations and peruse through emails while the laptop is in sleep mode.

Those tasks were managed by the MacBook's main processor, but creating a low-power processor can consume battery. The chip, which is similar to the processor seen in the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, coupled with the ARM processor will do wonders to the MacBook Air 2017, though there's the possibility that it will grace this year's MacBook Pro upgrade instead.

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