The MacBook Air and Web Development

I migrated to a MacBook Air as my primary development machine a few months ago and I think it is the ideal computer for a web developer. I think it’s the future of personal computing and that everyone should do themselves a favor and pick one up the first chance they get.

There are already some great articles reviewing the specs of the computer and why it is well-suited for web development, but I just wanted to point out a few, hopefully less-obvious, benefits of the machine for others who are considering making the switch.

Pros

There are a lot of things I like about the machine, but here are the big ones.

Focus

I actually enjoy the restrictions of the smaller screen. I no longer need to worry about where I’m going to position windows. They are either full screen or half screen, no more lost time organizing my windows.

As a result of the more minimalistic setup I’ve become accustomed to, I’ve found that I am less tolerant of distractions. Now, I turn off anything that can potentially distract me from the task at hand and I’ve been much more productive as a result.

Efficiency

At first I didn’t like them, but I use spaces all the time now. I can switch back and forth between personal and work space very efficiently.

Speed

I’ve never had a computer with an SSD before, and I completely underestimated how big of a difference this makes. It’s amazing. I’ve found my Air to be much more responsive than the much more powerful computers I was using previously. Like I said, I don’t want to get too technical here, so if you want more details on this stuff, I would check out Apple’s Performance page for more details.

Portability

I really didn’t think I would care too much about the portability of the machine, but now that I have been carrying it with me everywhere for the past few months I don’t think I could ever go back to a MacBook Pro. Even my wife’s 13” MBP feels clunky (and slow) relative to my Air.

One thing a lot of people don’t seem to realize is that the resolution of the Air is actually the same as a 15” MBP. This makes it feel a lot bigger than it is, and it has a Thunderbolt port if you want to hook it up to a larger display.

Cons

None… just kidding, but they are fairly obvious. You’re clearly getting a machine with less screen real estate and a slower processor, but you will not notice the difference unless you are doing a lot of graphics/video editing or 3D modeling.

Conclusion

Computers are typically reviewed on specs, and if you compare the MacBook Air to a more powerful machine, the MacBookAir might look limited, but if you compare it based on the user experience provided by the machine, nothing comes close.

Note: I am a complete Apple fanboy, but I was a Windows user for the majority of my life. I’ve even had a Windows 7 laptop that I worked on for about a year so I am able to make a somewhat fair comparison.