I was planning on getting a 13" MacBook Air just recently until I went to the store and played with them and the 13" MBP. The MBP with the 2.8 i7 is only $200 m

I was planning on getting a 13" MacBook Air just recently until I went to the store and played with them and the 13" MBP. The MBP with the 2.8 i7 is only $200 more ($150 with counting student discounts) than the Air with the 1.7 i5, weighs 1.5 pounds more and gets the same battery life. Unless your laptop being super skinny is important, I think the 13" MBP is a much better value; it's going to be a while longer before the hardware needs to be upgraded. And my research indicated that there really wasn't a cheaper alternative in that size range, with that much power and such significant battery life (I get about 5-6 hours).