Whilst we all eagerly await Anandtech's (and others) report, what do you guys think? Which is 'better' and will you be going for? Do you think the differences in heat, fan speed & performance will be as pronounced as for last years IB processors? Or will Haswells low power consumption solve the heat and fan differences - to a minimum at least? (Note the clock speed on the base i5: 1.3Ghz!) Post your thoughts, opinions and purchase decisions!
Don't get too hung up on clock speed
In reality general operation rarely needs more than the 1ghz to 1.5ghz range. The real advancements come at the os and program level where code efficiency and use of ram and faster ssd drives bring the real speed improvements. Rarely do everyday apps need high levels of computation but they do need to cache their operations in memory for faster access.
If you want to see what CPU computation is used in daily routine stuff like, email, web, Skype etc you can look at system monitor. My CPU uses between 1% and 8% CPU idle with loads of apps running. Web browsing might utilise around 30% with a quick spike to 80-100% of just 1 core, leaving plenty in reserve. Don't forget we are talking about a dual core processor here that can turbo boost.
Of course if you are manipulating a rendering, working with super high res raw photos or compressing video then the 1.3ghz chip will boost up and be more than capable.
If you think 1.3ghz won't be enough for your needs I think perhaps a quad core MBP might be more suitable. You would have to be running high intensity stuff and remember not all program's can utilise all 4 cores anyway. It's reserved for creativity apps with quad core support usually.
Otherwise the lower power requirements make the Haswell MBA a superb choice for the average user.
P.s
I'm personally going to pick up a new 13" i5, 8gb, 256gb ssd in town once they come into stock, to replace my 2011 i5, 4gb, 128gb ssd machine.