In December 2009, I made the switch from a 15″ MacBook Pro to a then-maxed 13″ MacBook Air. In some ways, the Air was a big downgrade–I went from 4 GB down to 2 GB, from 500 GB of storage to 128 GB. However, the MacBook Air’s SSD was wicked fast, and more importantly, the Air weighed 2 lbs less and took up about 50% of the volume in my laptop bag.
2 lbs doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you’re dragging it through airports 100 times a year, any pounds you can shed are worth some tradeoffs.
Last week, I ordered the new MacBook Air, sight unseen. I am not usually an early adopter, but I’ve been waiting for a new Air since I bought the old Air. I have traveled 100,000 miles with my Air and it has been tremendously better than my MacBook Pro for this purpose.
The new Air has the same CPU and about the same weight (2.9 lbs vs 3.0 lbs). However, the new Air has 4 GB of RAM, a 256 GB flash disk, a 1440×900 screen, more battery life, and a newer Nvidia graphics chipset.
The new laptop has left Shanghai, probably from Foxconn, en route to me. I am looking forward to it!