What complete garbage.
OP, going by what you said:
"For context, I would like this computer for serious programming, note taking, and all the other various college activities I would partake in. It's rarely going to be sitting on a desk and mostly on the move."
The Air is a far better bet.
I've owned both machines, and I sold the Pro. Several reasons:
1) Weight - carrying the Air in a backpack is barely noticeable, if you're at university and you're carrying it around alot, then your shoulder will eventually take notice of the Pro.
2) Screen resolution - The Air has a far higher screen resolution, therefore, more space on screen to program comfortably, the Pro feels very constrained by comparison.
3) Power - Day to day programming, you're barely going to notice any difference. Unless you're trying to use several VM'd machines there is no compelling reason to get the Pro, in my opinion. I've used windows 7 in parallels with absolutely no issues on my Air.
The processor in the Air is rated at 1.7GHz, but it on average overclocks itself to 2.3GHz with both cores active (more or less the speed of the Pro) and around 2.9GHz with one core active.
The Geekbench scores are almost the same on these models.
The "4GB barely enough to run Lion" line, is complete nonsense, I've routinely got Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Illustrator open at the same time and it runs absolutely fine.
It's your choice, but from experience, I'd absolutely go Air.
The Air is a far better bet if you want to have to dump it and replace it in a year when you realize 4 GB RAM is insufficient. As I said, the Air commands a huge price premium to give you . . . less. I've owned both, and sold the Air.
Let's review some facts, which NutsNGum found too inconvenient to mention:
1. The Air offers less performance: The fastest 13" Air is still slower than the base Pro. The 1.8 GHz Air scores 5786 on Geekbench and costs $1,699; the 2.4 GHz Pro scores 6208 on Geekbench and costs $1,199. Turbo boost? NutsNGum conveniently neglects that the Pro ALSO has it, which can boost the 2.4 GHz Pro to 2.93 GHz.
2. The Pro can be expanded to 16 GB of RAM and any size or type drive you want - whether a 1 TB platter drive or a 512 GB SSD. And if one doesn't mind voiding the warranty, you can install two different drives in the Pro. The Air? Zero expandability.
3. Also as noted, the Pro offers both Firewire 800 AND gigabit Ethernet. The Air? Neither. Need an optical drive? Sorry, the Air doesn't come with one, but you can buy an oh-so-convenient external drive for another $99.
4. 4 GB of RAM is not sufficient to run Lion and to do serious work without massive page-outs, which are, funnily enough, eliminated with upgraded RAM. As noted, the Air is a sealed system, which means you can NEVER upgrade the RAM or drive - you have to buy a new machine when your current one can't run satisfactorily.
5. The Pro has much better color accuracy due to a higher quality display panel, and is MUCH easier to look at for an extended period of time. The Air's display looks gray and washed out in comparison, which leads to eyestrain, especially in conjunction with smaller text.
Finally, the Air feels like a toy to me - it feels flimsy and insubstantial relative to the Pro. That's of course subjective, as is my opinion that the Pro is better looking - the uniformity trumps the thinness, which is thinness for the sake of it as opposed to form following function. And if you're really going to notice the weight difference, you have bigger problems than which laptop to buy. I travel weekly, and having had both, there's no way I'd ever go back to an Air.
You pay your money and you take your choice . . .
In sum, as I said, the Pro gives you a lot more capability for less money, and is, hence, a much better buy.
