So I've placed my order for a fully decked out 13" MBA as many as you have, and after reading so many varying opinions on the new Air I can't help but throw my own into the mix. 
First a bit of background: I've had a 17"/2.8ghz/9600GT/4gb Macbook Pro that has served me well for a year now. My original thinking was that a 17" only weighs a pound more than the 15", and I had to have the 1920x1200 matte screen option which was at the time only available on this beast. After putting a 160gb X-25M SSD in this thing, I couldn't really imagine needing anything faster than this for my purposes. 99% of the time this computer waits for me, not the other way around. In essence I have zero complaints about my computing experience with this laptop other than the weight factor.
In the past, I had thought about trying to move into an Macbook Air, but as already said by many other first time buyers here, it never quite had the oomph to justify the price. I don't like having more than one computer as it's just too annoying keeping track of files, etc., so I need something that's powerful enough to be my only computer. As we are finding out now, even the Ghz ratings on the old Airs were skewed due to the processors being so aggressively throttled to compensate for poor heat dissipation. So I think I made the right call in that it would have been a major drag as a primary system.
Needless to say, I was very, very interested to see what Apple had in store last week. And after nearly falling asleep through endless pointless software demos, I think they hit this one out of the park.
I think most of us can agree that the primary concern regarding the Macbook Air at this point is its potential lack of CPU power. Of course I can only speak to my personal computer usage tendencies, but I believe in this day and age the CPU is quickly falling in importance when it comes to real-life productivity. Essentially the only times I max out my CPU are when I'm:
1. Playing games.
2. Encoding/media processing.
When it comes to playing games on a computer, multitasking ceases to be of importance. Every megahertz goes towards pumping out maximum FPS, and the more powerful the CPU the better. If this is of primary importance to you, then the Macbook Air is the wrong choice. Frankly, any Mac period is the wrong choice for such a person. But personally I have a PS3 for hardcore gaming, and very very few games are available on the Mac that I can't play on the PS3 (Starcraft II, CS Source to name two). And it just so happens that all of those games are running smoothly on medium graphics settings on the 320M. So essentially the new Macbook Air covers any mid-level gaming I need on a computer, while my PS3 covers everything else.
As for encoding/processing media, I realized something: I don't do anything that requires enough CPU power to edit media in real-time, i.e. the kind of computing task where you are working on a single project, and CPU power dictates your ability to work efficiently within that project. Think 3D modeling, video editing, hardcore music production, etc. And outside of gaming, that's really the only time I can think of CPU power being all that important. Personally I do these things rarely enough to discount the need altogether.
Case in point: I really don't care how long it takes to export 2000 photos from Aperture as long as I can open up 20 tabs from reddit or work on a web site while that export is taking place. I think the vast majority of users out there are in the same boat. And even the 11" MBA appears to be more than capable of this workload scenario.
I guess my point is that thanks to the simplicity of OSX and the computer hardware we have today, I am no longer limited by my hardware in terms of what I can do in what period of time. I just don't feel that hardware restraining my productivity as I did up until perhaps a year ago (thank you X-25M). If I do feel restrained, it's by my own brain and my ability to process information quickly enough.
The second concern, as with all Apple products, is the price of the Macbook Air. Well as a lifetime deal hunter I think the price is fan-f*ing-tastic.
After well-publicized discounts and a 5% credit card rewards program, I was able to get the fully decked out 13" for $1600 (it would have been $1900 directly from Apple after tax). Now let's take the 256GB SSD - this would be $400 if you could buy one off of the shelves and install it yourself. Taking that away and adding $100 for an average 2.5" drive, you're at $1300. Considering what this computer is capable of and the form factor, not to mention the ridiculously slow depreciation of Apple products, $1300 is a downright STEAL for this computer.
So that's that, I'm a convert now and I haven't even seen the computer first hand. The only potential concerns I have: The "glossy" screen isn't ideal, but at least it's not the mirror finish glass cover other Macbook Pros are (in my opinion) plagued by. The .3 Megapixel camera is a slap in the face and more planned obselesence on the part of Apple, which pisses me off but it's not a deal breaker. And the loss of a backlit keyboard dents the coolness factor significantly, but as I have long since attained supreme-geek level 60, I rarely have the need to look down at my keyboard, so not a huge deal. I do love having those keys glow while using the computer at night, it just looks so cool. *sniff*
Anyway, this long diatribe is my rationale of why lightweight "powerful enough" computers like this are destined to become more and more mainstream every year. Why lug around a 17" beast when I can have a 13" that can output to a 27" screen when I need it and grants me the same productivity potential 99% of the time? As far as I'm concerned, this is absolutely the future of the Macbook line, and laptops in general if the rest of the world manages to catch up!
First a bit of background: I've had a 17"/2.8ghz/9600GT/4gb Macbook Pro that has served me well for a year now. My original thinking was that a 17" only weighs a pound more than the 15", and I had to have the 1920x1200 matte screen option which was at the time only available on this beast. After putting a 160gb X-25M SSD in this thing, I couldn't really imagine needing anything faster than this for my purposes. 99% of the time this computer waits for me, not the other way around. In essence I have zero complaints about my computing experience with this laptop other than the weight factor.
In the past, I had thought about trying to move into an Macbook Air, but as already said by many other first time buyers here, it never quite had the oomph to justify the price. I don't like having more than one computer as it's just too annoying keeping track of files, etc., so I need something that's powerful enough to be my only computer. As we are finding out now, even the Ghz ratings on the old Airs were skewed due to the processors being so aggressively throttled to compensate for poor heat dissipation. So I think I made the right call in that it would have been a major drag as a primary system.
Needless to say, I was very, very interested to see what Apple had in store last week. And after nearly falling asleep through endless pointless software demos, I think they hit this one out of the park.
I think most of us can agree that the primary concern regarding the Macbook Air at this point is its potential lack of CPU power. Of course I can only speak to my personal computer usage tendencies, but I believe in this day and age the CPU is quickly falling in importance when it comes to real-life productivity. Essentially the only times I max out my CPU are when I'm:
1. Playing games.
2. Encoding/media processing.
When it comes to playing games on a computer, multitasking ceases to be of importance. Every megahertz goes towards pumping out maximum FPS, and the more powerful the CPU the better. If this is of primary importance to you, then the Macbook Air is the wrong choice. Frankly, any Mac period is the wrong choice for such a person. But personally I have a PS3 for hardcore gaming, and very very few games are available on the Mac that I can't play on the PS3 (Starcraft II, CS Source to name two). And it just so happens that all of those games are running smoothly on medium graphics settings on the 320M. So essentially the new Macbook Air covers any mid-level gaming I need on a computer, while my PS3 covers everything else.
As for encoding/processing media, I realized something: I don't do anything that requires enough CPU power to edit media in real-time, i.e. the kind of computing task where you are working on a single project, and CPU power dictates your ability to work efficiently within that project. Think 3D modeling, video editing, hardcore music production, etc. And outside of gaming, that's really the only time I can think of CPU power being all that important. Personally I do these things rarely enough to discount the need altogether.
Case in point: I really don't care how long it takes to export 2000 photos from Aperture as long as I can open up 20 tabs from reddit or work on a web site while that export is taking place. I think the vast majority of users out there are in the same boat. And even the 11" MBA appears to be more than capable of this workload scenario.
I guess my point is that thanks to the simplicity of OSX and the computer hardware we have today, I am no longer limited by my hardware in terms of what I can do in what period of time. I just don't feel that hardware restraining my productivity as I did up until perhaps a year ago (thank you X-25M). If I do feel restrained, it's by my own brain and my ability to process information quickly enough.
The second concern, as with all Apple products, is the price of the Macbook Air. Well as a lifetime deal hunter I think the price is fan-f*ing-tastic.
After well-publicized discounts and a 5% credit card rewards program, I was able to get the fully decked out 13" for $1600 (it would have been $1900 directly from Apple after tax). Now let's take the 256GB SSD - this would be $400 if you could buy one off of the shelves and install it yourself. Taking that away and adding $100 for an average 2.5" drive, you're at $1300. Considering what this computer is capable of and the form factor, not to mention the ridiculously slow depreciation of Apple products, $1300 is a downright STEAL for this computer.
So that's that, I'm a convert now and I haven't even seen the computer first hand. The only potential concerns I have: The "glossy" screen isn't ideal, but at least it's not the mirror finish glass cover other Macbook Pros are (in my opinion) plagued by. The .3 Megapixel camera is a slap in the face and more planned obselesence on the part of Apple, which pisses me off but it's not a deal breaker. And the loss of a backlit keyboard dents the coolness factor significantly, but as I have long since attained supreme-geek level 60, I rarely have the need to look down at my keyboard, so not a huge deal. I do love having those keys glow while using the computer at night, it just looks so cool. *sniff*
Anyway, this long diatribe is my rationale of why lightweight "powerful enough" computers like this are destined to become more and more mainstream every year. Why lug around a 17" beast when I can have a 13" that can output to a 27" screen when I need it and grants me the same productivity potential 99% of the time? As far as I'm concerned, this is absolutely the future of the Macbook line, and laptops in general if the rest of the world manages to catch up!
