New MBA/win 7 pc or 27" ACD with 13" MBP

[rnelan7]

Well folks, as we all know the new 11.6 Macbook Air came out yesterday. I am very interested in this device because I think it will do well with my needs (internet, itunes, email). Right now I have a 13" 2.4 Macbook Pro and was planning on saving for a 27" Cinema display for more screen real estate. Now since the new MBA is out I figured I can sell my MBP and pick up a new MBA with little money lost and then build my own win 7 pc with a monitor. I figured it would be about the same price. The win 7 pc would be for any heavy lifting that occasionally need to do such as gaming and video encoding with handbrake. So I am asking your opinion, what would you do? Is it worth it to sell my MBP and get a new 11.6 MBA and build a pc or is it better to just get a beautiful 27" ACD?

Here is a short pro's con's that I can think of

MBA/Win 7
Pros
Great mobility with mba
MS Office on win 7 (Excel for Mac is horrendous and I use it frequently)
Win 7 pc would have large storage
Win 7 extra pc to encode while I can use the MBA in the meantime

Cons
Smaller screen real estate with a likely 24" monitor I would get
Sacrifice mobility power and space
Minor agitations of win 7 (viruses, errors, etc.)
No keyboard back lighting on MBA

MBP/ACD
Pros
Simplicity of only one computer
Nice big screen with high resolution
Not have to deal with windows

Cons
MBP would be useless when encoding video
Possible overkill of 27" screen



Thank you in advance

 

[3N16MA]

Why not just keep your MBP and you can still build your Win 7 PC and buy a monitor. Seems that the MBP more than meets your needs for a portable device. Unless you're desperate for more portability that the MBA offers there is no reason to sell you MBP for a MBA.

 

[rnelan7]

Why not just keep your MBP and you can still build your Win 7 PC and buy a monitor. Seems that the MBP more than meets your needs for a portable device. Unless you're desperate for more portability that the MBA offers there is no reason to sell you MBP for a MBA.

Valid point but I could sacrifice the power of my MBP and get the MBA knowing that I would have the win pc to back me up when need be. The trade off for the size and weight would be worth it to me.

Edit - I suppose I wouldn't mind just building a win pc and getting a refurb 24" then just keeping my mbp. What do you think the chances are they will still be available around February?

 

[mikeb13]

Keep the 13" MBP and get the 27" monitor. Just Bootcamp Win 7.