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Comment by Void_ | Hacker News Reader

Everybody is doing all their work on 11" MacBook Air these days. I feel like people just wanna look cool.

Why? Is it the weight? Do you find Pro too heavy to carry around? Have you tried a backpack?

I have a hard time working on my 13" Air's screen. I'm only really productive with it when I'm doing a very particular kind of implementation task. That is, one where I can have code in one column and a terminal in the other. It's difficult to do tasks that involve many varied reference materials (code, web pages, documents), switching back and forth between my terminal, editor, AND browser. Or lots of small code files with lots of navigation and window re-arranging. That said, reading & emailing is pretty easy. Until I need to cross reference an article with two emails and then copy paste between them. Blargh.

Anyway. Why not a Pro? Why would I want a heavier machine? I can easily SSH into a beefy dev box. And most of the code us startup types write for the web or mobile devices don't demand beefy CPUs. The trade off between performance and form factor only makes sense if I'm going to use my laptop for anything other than a dumb terminal. And I do put that 13" air in a backpack.

I have a 15" Pro, and I hate carrying it around to work from coffee shops. My old work 13" Air fit much more easily into my everyday bag and the weight made a big difference. I don't think working on a 13" is the most comfortable thing, but with judicious use of multiple desktops and full-screen mode it's workable.

I love the 11" Air, but I couldn't imagine using it for anything other than a basic email machine.

I do all my coding on an 11" air. It really is nice to carry around everywhere, since I take it back and forth to work every day (and a coffee shop right now).

As for screen real estate, well I have a 24" monitor at home but have gradually stopped using it. I can only really focus on one thing at a time, and the screen size is big enough to display that one thing comfortably. I have Quicksilver set up so F3 switches to web browser, F4 to sublime, F5 to my terminal, and it's muscle memory at this point. If I want to switch focus, rather than turn my head, I lift a finger and it replaces what I'm viewing.

I've lately started playing around in Pixelmator (an OSX-only pared-down version of Photoshop), and have started thinking about breaking out the monitor for that, admittedly. It would be nice to have all my tool palettes, list of layers, etc, not obscure the image I'm working on.

I got one for iOS development, and sometimes it's nice to either tinker, or do small updates in bed or on the couch. I connect it to KVM if I"m doing anything that takes more than a half hour. I use it now more than my Windows desktop, but more so because I don't want to boot my son off Garry's Mod! I also use Win7 on the air, but just to test or for gaming (Steam and GOG).

The 11" is just so convenient if you work from multiple places.

It's so small and light and you kind of casually pick it up and take it with you even thinking about it.

They're also not badly priced if they are to be used as a primary machine.

And with the SSD and now 4-8gb as standard, you have a pretty good spec for most web development.

For me it isn't weight as much as size; anything over 13" tends to get uncomfortable IMHO (I've gotten used to being without a desk). After that the 13" Air is a better machine than the 13" Pro in a few points (standard SSD, higher resolution, better battery life, less heat, no DVD appendix) so its an easy choice.

I have a 13" MBA, and the reason I chose it over the pro is that it has an SSD. I've killed hard drives before thanks to them not sleeping when I shut my lid. But I can't do real work on it for long periods of time, I need my dual monitors.

You can get an MBP with an SSD. I have a 13" MBP with a 128 GB SSD.

I have MBP with SSD and HDD. :)

As do I, but it's really really heavy! It's almost consistent weight training carrying the thing around.

Yeah I solved that issue by doing real weight training, then it doesn't feel so heavy!

I carried a 15 inch MBP while walking to work for 2 years, including four flights of stairs to my apartment. Carrying around weight has never been a problem for me, yet when I switched to the Air, it felt like a radical life change. It's hard to perceive how much just 3 pounds can air a difference but I was much more enthusiastic about heading out to do some work at a coffee shop or even just over to my couch.

Are you contemplating a change to the new Retina model at all or are you going to stick with the lighter airs?

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