MBP + SSD or MBA

[SnowLeopard2008]

I'm currently debating either a 13" MBP + 128GB Samsung 830 SSD or 11" MBA with 128GB SSD. Amazon sells the base model 13" MBP for $1099 and 11" MBA for $1120. The Samsung 830 128GB SSD will cost $150. Which one would you personally pick and why? Please don't say "wait for Ivy Bridge and Retina Display Macs" as I know all about Ivy Bridge and it's performance gains in both CPU and GPU as well as the rumors about Retina Display Macs. It's not a factor for me in this case.

As for my usage, I do the basic computer stuff like internet, email, music, photos, etc. I also use FCPX lightly to moderately. I use Skype, VMware Fusion (Fedora Linux VM), Xcode, Eclipse, Netbeans, Adobe CS lightly to moderately (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, Fireworks). Basically, I'm the average computer user plus Computer Engineering undergrad who writes lots of code (for class, for iOS/Android apps, etc.) and a light user of Adobe CS apps.

One thing holding me back from the 13" MBP + SSD option is the lack of the TRIM command unless I do some hacking/modding. Maybe ML has TRIM for non-Apple SSDs but that's besides the point.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Since the 11" MBA has a slightly better resolution than the 13" MBP, that is a plus for the MBA, but then again, the MBA is limited to 2 to 4 GB RAM, while the 2011 MBP can take up to 16 GB RAM, which might come in handy with the applications you mentioned.
I personally would go the MBP route, and as for TRIM, I have an SSD in my 2007 iMac (Vertex 2 60 GB) and an SSD in my 2009 MBP (Vertex 3 120 GB), both running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and haven't had a TRIM related problem yet.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

Since the 11" MBA has a slightly better resolution than the 13" MBP, that is a plus for the MBA, but then again, the MBA is limited to 2 to 4 GB RAM, while the 2011 MBP can take up to 16 GB RAM, which might come in handy with the applications you mentioned.
I personally would go the MBP route, and as for TRIM, I have an SSD in my 2007 iMac (Vertex 2 60 GB) and an SSD in my 2009 MBP (Vertex 3 120 GB), both running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and haven't had a TRIM related problem yet.

I totally forgot about the RAM limitation of the MBA. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

 

[Medic278]

I have a late 2011 13" MBP with a 240GB Intel 520 SSD and 8GB of RAM go with the MBP. I have both the MBP and MBA and I prefer my MBP hands down. Plus you have the upgradability of the MBP. As far as TRIM support goes there are hacks out there to enable it via terminal however if you have a sand force based drive they are pretty good at keeping themselves cleaned up on their own. I also use FCPX and Photoshop CS5 and I have never had a problem running it on my MBP.