http://maccrazy.com/macbook-air-battery-lifeHow Can the MacBook Air’s Battery Life Be So Short?
The current MacBook Air models have an amazing secret power. The Intel processors in the current MacBook Air lineup are in fact very, very special. Under a light workload, the ultra low voltage Intel Core i5 or i7 processor in a MacBook Air, runs at just 1.6 to 1.8GHz, and consumes little power.
What most people don’t know, is that the MacBook Air processors are firebrands that can speed up to 2.9GHz and match the performance of the processors in the 2010 MacBook Pro 15 inch and 17 inch models, and even match the current 2011 / 2012 MacBook Pro 13 inch model. The base MacBook Air, costing $1,000, has comparable processor and storage performance to my top-of-the-line 15 inch MacBook Pro purchased August 2010 for $4,000. That is simply amazing.
http://maccrazy.com/macbook-air-battery-life
I read this and I want a MBA! So probably. I should buy the base $1000 MBA plus 20'' ISP display for about $200 for a total of 1200.....
Unfortunately high pixel density monitors in large sizes are very difficult to produce. So they are very expensive.
NEC has some at 2048x1536 21" screens in the $3500 to $4000 range. Planar also makes some high DPI screens (2560x2048 @ 21.3") for medical imaging starting at around $8000 (grayscale only).
Your best bet would be a small screen. They do make 1920x1080 panels in 15" to 17" sizes as they are available for notebooks. But you may have a tough time finding one for a desktop.
You think that's expensive? Look up Barco . TN panels which are used in the Apple laptops have seen far greater gains over the past few years. I'm not going into all of the engineering difficulties this presents, but some of these companies publish white papers.