Originally Posted by
tadtz
Sorry, but have to call this out as being just plain wrong. A Core 2 Duo, even at 1.6 GHz, in no way can be considered as slow as a netbook's Atom chip.
The 1.6ghz is the upgraded option, the base is 1.4ghz. It's a bit faster, but it's in the same ballpark as the current generation dual-core Atoms. Meanwhile, it's half the speed of a current ULV i5...
Additionally, the SSD brings the perceived performance up to notebooks I've used with 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo & standard 5000 rpm HDD (a fairly common system).
If you're doing disk-heavy things, and not processor-heavy ones, sure, and if you aren't willing to upgrade the disk to an SSD (not generally a difficult upgrade with most systems.)
Also, are you comparing MacOS on the MBA to Windows, or to another Mac?
The Dell E4200 I used for a while with the same processor as the lower end MBP would get bogged down on CPU-heavy Javascript on web pages, or paging in large PDF files. Neither is disk-bound, and that machine had an SSD (albeit a small and not very fast Dell-branded one.)
For that matter, I've got an SSD (an extra 80gb Intel) in my old netbook (an obselete single-core model, and much slower than even the MBA 11 or current dual core atoms)... a fast SSD doesn't save that machine from being a dog.
Anyways, if you hold out for just a bit, all signs are pointing to new i5 & i7 Macbook Airs showing up next month (check Mac news sites for more details).
That'll be a significant improvement, when it's out. Until then, I just couldn't in good conscience recommend the 11" MBA and would recommend anyone getting the 13" upgrade to the faster CPU option.