The deed is done. I returned the new 11in MacBook Air to Apple this morning and placed an online order for a MacBook Pro with retina display, 2.7GHz quad-core i7 processor, 16GB of memory and a standard 512GB SSD. Delivery is promised for July 23.
As a result of this I have revised my computing strategy. The MacBook Pro is perfectly capable of performing the dual rôle of desktop and portable. Whenit arrives I shall sell my current iMac and make the Pro my first computer. Surprisingly, I have decided to keep my existing 2010 MacBook Air as a spare and for those occasions when I need to travel with a Mac but don’t want the weight of the Pro. For longer journeys, particularly the long summer break, I will take the Pro so I have a full desktop experience while away.
Unlike the sense of disappointment, of business-as-usual, when I set up the new Air yesterday, I am now feeling pretty excited about getting my hands on this latest and best from Apple.
There is one important thing to bear in mind. Despite my vaccilation and false starts, you should not get the impression that the current MacBook Airs are other than wonderful computers. If low weight and size is of paramount importance, the latest 11in Air is a powerful workhorse with few compromises other than the relatively small screen. The new retina display of the MacBook Pro is in a completeley different league, of course, and it has persuaded many tech writers to move back to a bigger portable. I have now joined them.