I'm still quite happy with my late 2010 13' Air, as a second/travel/coffee shop laptop. About your edit: remember that how Apple does it in the "Retina" models

I'm still quite happy with my late 2010 13' Air, as a second/travel/coffee shop laptop. About your edit: remember that how Apple does it in the "Retina" models is increasing the definition, without affecting the actual size of the UI elements. I would buy a "Retina Air" in an heartbeat.