2010 MacBook Air: Lose weight, and nothing else

Now that I've had a few weeks (with one slight interruption) to get to work with the MacBook Air, I thought I'd share my findings.

I bought the top-end 13" Air with the intent of replacing my early-2008 15" MacBook Pro as my sole personal computer at home and work. Here are the specs:

• Pro: 2.6Ghz Core2 Duo, 4GB RAM, GeForce 8600M GPU, 7200RPM HDD
• Air: 2.13GHz Core2 Duo, 4GB RAM, GeForce 320M GPU, 256GB SSD
  

One of my biggest concerns was performance — I wondered if the Air could live up to the level of the Pro. Here's what I found out:

The screen is physically smaller, but the resolution is the same (1440x900) so the actual real estate is unchanged. The GPU is comparable, and both 2D and 3D graphics are snappy. The mini display port interface on the Air is superior to the DVI port on the Pro since it can support higher resolution displays and can carry both audio and video.

The CPU is slightly slower but the memory is faster; the new Air has a 1066MHz bus compared to the 800 MHz bus on my '08 Pro. So far this more than makes up for the CPU speed reduction in my estimation; response time in all applications (even graphically-intensive apps like iPhoto) seems to be the same or better.

There's no comparing disk performance — the Air blows the Pro away due to its use of solid state drive technology. Since the Air doesn't contain a 'disk' at all, but instead stores all of its data in memory chips, the access time for reading files is lightning fast and writing files is also faster. Even better, the Air has a 56GB storage advantage over the 200GB drive in the Pro.

The Air's audio is better, with a new under-keyboard speaker system that sounds fuller and less tinny than the speakers on the Pro.

The battery on the Air is delivering about 6-8 hours of normal use. This is double the amount of time I would get on the Pro.

At 2.9 pounds, the Air is 2.5 pounds lighter than the Pro. Considering the Air's smaller power adapter, the total carry package is about 50% lighter.

Peripheral connectivity options favor the Pro but, with two USB ports and a built-in SD card slot, the Air is more than adequate. However, the lack of a FireWire port on the Air may be a problem for cinematographers.

So, all in all:

• computation and graphics capability are about the same
• audio is a little better
  
• data storage and retrieval is much better
• battery performance is twice as good
• carry weight is halved
• lacking a FireWire port (not an issue for me)

At $1799, the Air turned out to be a good value for me and I've totally transitioned to it as my only personal computer.