So after much deliberation, I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting the 13-inch Macbook Air instead of the 13-inch Macbook Pro I was considering for so long. Why, you may ask? There are a lot of reasons, so I thought I’d summarise with the main points.

Design

My girlfriend has a 13” Macbook Pro and although it’s a relatively small and portable computer compared to other (Windows) laptops, it’s actually still pretty heavy. One thing I love about my current main computer, an Acer netbook, is the extreme portability. The trouble is, I want decent power in the form factor of a netbook. You can only really get this with the Macbook Air range. The Air ditches the disk drive (which I hardly ever use anyway) to make it razor thin and light - it’s almost a work of art how thin this laptop is, and how Apple have managed to fit everything inside. 

Specs

Both the Air and Pro models of Macbook I was looking at both run the Intel i5 processor, dual core, but the Air’s i5 chip is clocked in at 1.7Ghz as opposed to the 2.3Ghz of the Macbook Pro. A slower CPU equals slower performance? Well, yes, but don’t forget that the Air is equipped with a 256GB solid state hard drive - essentially, opening and closing apps and everything in general is just as fast if not faster. I won’t be doing particularly heavy graphics work, and the Air will run Photoshop and Illustrator just as well as the Pro for my needs. Most of the time I use it will be spent in the browser, movie player, or Office applications. Sure, overall it won’t be as fast as the i5 Macbook Pro, but seeing as I’m coming from an Atom-powered netbook and a very ageing Dell, it’ll be fast enough. 

The 13 inch Air is similarly priced to the 13 inch Pro, has a better design in my opinion and pretty much matching performance as well as a higher resolution display. I think I’m onto a winner here. Stay tuned for coverage of this. 

I always like to keep a wishlist of tech-related items; it helps me distinguish what I want from what I need. So, in no particular order: 

Macbook Air 13”

At the time of writing, there will be a line of new Macbooks launched, but the 13” Air still does it for me. It’s fast, and features such as instant on and its super battery life make it a real winner.