MacBook Air may soon sport faster flash storage

Apple's refreshed MacBook Air will use a new type of storage tech that could make the wafer-thin laptop faster, according to Japanese site Macotakara.

The Toggle DDR 2.0 tech could also offer lower power consumption, and allow Apple to shave a few more millimetres off the Air's design, according to Thinq.

The technology would also mean that there would be absolutely no way to upgrade the Air's storage, as the Toggle DDR 2.0 storage chips would be soldered directly to the laptop's motherboard.

The new Air is expected to come out at some point this month, alongside OS X Lion, the new version of the Mac operating system.

The machine is also tipped to pack Intel's powerful Sandy Bridge processors, and Apple's as yet somewhat useless Thunderbolt port.

While the first Air left us feeling slightly baffled, subsequent iterations have been more impressive. The idea of a more powerful, speedier model that boasts the same slender dimensions is very interesting indeed.

Hopefully, Apple will pull out all the stops with the new Air, which faces competition from devices like the Samsung Series 9 laptop, a machine that earned a whopping five stars in our review.