Only '11 vs. '10 Downgrade: Graphics

[sporadicMotion]

Cool, if only games (and then only certain ones) are impacted, then it won't be an issue for me. It seems that watching video is at least as good, or even much better.

As long as there's no issues for what you want to do, then get it and enjoy!

Hauling a 15"+ MBP to and from work everyday would be too bulky and annoying for me. It's too bad that the 13" MBP skimped on the card, but ultimately the portable/ultraportable Mac market doesn't intersect well with the gamer market or we'd see one in there.

I completely agree... I hated hauling my 15" around for 8-12 hours a day. It was too bulky for note taking too.

As far as the HD3000 vs. Nvidia, the evidence shows that it depends on the game, at least as far as the '10 vs. '11 MBAs go. My own game of choice (WoW) unfortunately turned out on the short end of the stick; even with the same settings, Oppressor's screenshots here on the forums show a loss of detail with the HD3k and a definite loss of FPS. But is it playable? Yes, and very well on lower settings, enough to keep me pleased when I want to play the game mobile.

Wait until blizzard releases an eventual update and for Lion to get to at least 10.7.2. New hardware and a new OS in one bundle will often have this kind of effect. If it's just one or two games that are showing a decrease in FPS, then it's most likely a software bug.

For home playing and for video editing, I'm getting a referb iMac. I've finally got it through my hard head that it's not what the Air is for.

Good choice.

 

[DavidC1]

The 320m is still better then the 3000 HD, but the only programs that will be affected would be games and other 3D applications such as Maya, Lightwave, or Bryce.

That's not true. Those rendering applications are CPU bound. There might be some special filters or textures you apply that will definitely take advantage of the GPU, but the rendering itself is CPU. It's not like 320M is a huge deal faster than HD 3000 anyway.