Almost three months ago I wrote a lengthy post about my gadget crush on the 11 inch MacBook Air. I had ordered one up and I challenged myself to stop upgrading to new computers at what had become an embarrassingly rapid rate. After three months of using the Air I don't think that challenge will be a problem. I'm using it as my primary computer and it's definitely all I need.
I went with the "maxed" out 11 inch Air that has a 1.6Ghz dual core processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid state drive. It's powerful enough to quickly do everything I throw at it and handle all of the programs I typically run. I usually have at least 8 or more programs running at once and this computer handles them with aplomb. (For example right now I'm running MarsEdit, Mail, Adium, Fetch, Preview, Chrome, DevonThink Pro, iTunes, Socialite, OmniFocus, Quickcursor and Dropbox). The computer typically runs cool and I don't think I've heard the fans kick on once in the three months I've owned it, although admittedly the most processor intensive thing I've done is some simple iMovie edits.
As other reviewers have noted, the SSD helps make everything feel very quick and snappy. Files and programs open instantly.
The keyboard and trackpad feel just like any other Apple laptop, and the screen has less glare than any of the current MacBook Pros.
It did take me a week or two to get used to the high resolution screen. Text and icons were noticeably smaller, but now it seems normal. In terms of screen real estate, 11 inches works fine. I can comfortably fit a chat window, a document or browser window and the iTunes mini player on the screen. If I am going to be doing heavy multitasking or working on big spreadsheets or images I hook up a 24 inch monitor at home (which I did in the past even when I had a 17" MacBook Pro).
One thing that did surprise me is how much I'm still using my iPad even after getting the MacBook Air. The Air is so small and light that I thought I might even sell my iPad after I got it. However, the iPad is still my go to device in a lot of situations- especially for browsing through my RSS feeds. And when it comes to collaborating or presenting to just one or two people I still go to the iPad. It feels much more natural to pull up a document or video on the iPad and then hand it over for the other person to look at. However, when I want to do work-work (like typing anything over a paragraph or two), I definitely go for the Air. In my preview article I guessed that at a combined weight of 4 pounds I would usually just decide to take both the Air and iPad with me when I go to a meeting or on a work trip- and that's typically what I do without a second thought. They fit perfectly side by side in my small backpack.
The Air is an outstanding laptop and I've been recommending the $999 base model to a lot of people. The light, fast and powerful 11 inch (and its 13 inch big brother) represent the future of laptops. As the price and capacity of SSDs drop, cloud storage and media streaming become more ubiquitous and optical media is phased out, I think all laptops will move towards this same sleek and slender form factor.