Well, after lots of consideration, I'm upgrading from a 1st gen MBA to a new 13" MBP with SSD.
While I love the portability and design of the MBA, my biggest complaint has been poor battery life. I know most people complain about the poor video performance of the 1st gen MBA, but I can even live with that. But 2-3 hours battery life means I must always carry the power adapter with me. On the other hand, if I can get 7-10 hours battery life with the new MBP, I can safely leave the power adapter at home 90% of the time.
Even around the house poor battery life has been a pain. It's great to be able to move around the house unwired -- something that a light computer allows you to do, but in this case only for a couple of hours before you must return to charge it back up.
When I purchased the MBA, the only other 13" option was the regular plastic MB, which was heavier and did not have many of the features of the MBA like the LED screen and the backlit keyboard, and of course was not unibody. It was also much heavier. But now the new 13" MBP has those features along with much better performance (double the RAM, better video, faster processor), and it's lighter than the old MB.
The Apple rep in the store told me they are barely selling any MBAs these days since the iPad release, and he wouldn't be surprised if it is discontinued.
My personal opinion is that they should discontinue the MBA, but instead make a smaller 10" or 11" screen option for the MBP perhaps without the optical drive. I think that would be a good option for a lighter computer. If they made such an option now, I would probably buy it.
While I love the portability and design of the MBA, my biggest complaint has been poor battery life. I know most people complain about the poor video performance of the 1st gen MBA, but I can even live with that. But 2-3 hours battery life means I must always carry the power adapter with me. On the other hand, if I can get 7-10 hours battery life with the new MBP, I can safely leave the power adapter at home 90% of the time.
Even around the house poor battery life has been a pain. It's great to be able to move around the house unwired -- something that a light computer allows you to do, but in this case only for a couple of hours before you must return to charge it back up.
When I purchased the MBA, the only other 13" option was the regular plastic MB, which was heavier and did not have many of the features of the MBA like the LED screen and the backlit keyboard, and of course was not unibody. It was also much heavier. But now the new 13" MBP has those features along with much better performance (double the RAM, better video, faster processor), and it's lighter than the old MB.
The Apple rep in the store told me they are barely selling any MBAs these days since the iPad release, and he wouldn't be surprised if it is discontinued.
My personal opinion is that they should discontinue the MBA, but instead make a smaller 10" or 11" screen option for the MBP perhaps without the optical drive. I think that would be a good option for a lighter computer. If they made such an option now, I would probably buy it.
