Most important factor why most people buy Air, is for portability and then maybe the sexiness/design.
It would be a brgain to get it at the lowest price. Thats about 700 pounds for a MBA.
But even better would be getting the SSD which is 250 times faster then hardrive.
If i wanted to get the Air it would have to be with the SSD.
But i wish they can drop that price even further- doubtful.
If they can bring it to the 700 pound range, then maybe i would buy.
A laptop for about 1000 pounds it just too expensive i reckon when your a student.
I'd say either a refurbished 1.8/64GB SSD, or a low-end new Air. Price should be same for both (at least it is so in US store, $1799). If you need it right now, first option seems better (you get it instantly, you have SSD from the beginning, you possibly get better battery life). If not, I'd wait for first tests of new Air (i.e. real battery life, real performance improvements, possibility to use SATA SSD). If battery life doesn't suffer much, I'd say possibility for an upgrade to a better SSD (i.e. Intel's) would be worth buying the new version.
... I see in UK store there's a price difference of 300 pounds. So it might be a factor after all.