Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple on Wednesday announced the release of the new versions of its Mac computers and the much-awaited Lion OS X software.

Thye new versions of MacBook Air and the MacMini have been equipped with faster Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors. The new Macbook Air computers feature Thunderbolt ports that support Gigabyte Ethernet, FireWire and Lion operating system.

The new MacBook Air computers also feature Intel HD Graphics 3000, up to 4GB of 1333 MHz memory, flash memory-based booting, a backlit keyboard, and multi-touch trackpad.

Apple claims that the new machines offer twice the performance of their predecessors. The Cupertino-based company also claims that the new 11-inch and 13-inch models have battery life of 5 and 7 hours respectively.

On the previous day, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced huge growth in quarterly revenue and profit. During the three month ended June, Apple enjoyed a growth of 90 per cent in revenue to $28.57 billion, and a jump 124 per cent in profit to $7.31 billion, as compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones, 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, representing jump of 140 per cent and 183 per cent in their sales from the year ago period. Sales of Mac computers jumped 14 per cent.