I think that this is spot on. I currently use a high resolution 15" MPB as my main development machine (with an external monitor at the office and at home) but

I think that this is spot on. I currently use a high resolution 15" MPB as my main development machine (with an external monitor at the office and at home) but would be interested in the MBA for carrying between the two instead and for travel. For detractors who say it's a glorified netbook, having play around with the last generation MBAs (which have lower spec hardware) it's not. The difference between an Atom processor and a C2D is light years. Even ignoring the additional graphics card power which can be used to make video actually watchable, a my netbook doesn't even really get considered for travel duty because it's nearly impossible to run anything more than a web browser + office on it (although I did run Lightroom 2 on it while traveling through Asia for two months - that was an experiment in extreme patience). Honestly, I think the MBA is the most attractive option in Apple's lineup for the average consumer. The 11" model is the same price as a macbook and the 13" isn't much more but it's significantly lighter, harder to damage (SSD + Al casing) and more than enough power to do everything that normals do. I know that if my mom was in the market for a new machine now, the 13" MBA would be high on my list for her. The only thing normals probably aren't entirely accustomed to is the lack of a DVD drive. My mom still loves her Netflix subscription and even though Handbrake for mac is really simple to use the concept of explaining how to connect an external DVD drive and rip movies for the air plane is still a bit much. There is always iTunes (which is what Apple wants us all to use anyways).