MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air

Question

I'm going to be getting a Macbook, and its going to be either the air or the pro, and I need some help from people that understand computer peripherals better than me.
Here are the details. They are based on student pricing, with the original price in parentheses.
MacBook Pro * price: $999 (normally $1200)
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
4GB 1600MHz memory
500GB 5400-rpm hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
1280 x 800 pixels
MacBook Air (normally $1100) * 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz
Intel HD Graphics 5000
4GB memory
128GB flash storage
1440 x 900 pixels
MacBook Air advantages
Better graphics (Intel HD graphics 5000 instead of 4000 on the pro)
Flash storage
better screen resolution
MacBook Pro advantages
Faster processer
I'm just not sure how much each of these plays into the speed of the laptop. Do the Intel HD 5000, flash storage, and screen resolution make up for the slower processor or not? The only thing the MacBook Pro wins in is the processor. I'm hoping for an answer from someone who understands the factors well.

Answer 1

I'm a write and I use the MBA. I had a MBP for years that was solid and dependable. But I use my computer primarily for writing books, so I generally use MS Word, Safari, iTunes, Mail, Skype occasionally, and other small programs. I also we web design so I sometimes use Dreamweaver and Photoshop. I've found that the MBA handles everything I need it to brilliantly.
People will tell you that the MBP is faster and that the MBA internals are old tech (specifically the processor), and technically they're right. However, the MBA is optimized for speed. The solid state drive is so much faster than the HDD that comes standard in a MBP at opening programs and loading documents. Unless you're doing video editing or photo editing or any other processor intensive tasks, you more than likely simply will not benefit from the faster processor in a MBP.
Like the other poster said, spend some time at the Apple store playing with both. I got the maxed out 11" with the 128SSD, 4gb RAM and the 1.6GHz processor. There are tricks to keeping your disk space, such as using IMAP for your email if your mail server supports it. That way none of my email resides on my computer, and keeping my video on an external hard drive. My music takes up the lion's share of my disk space (60gb) but after I installed all my programs (keeping my documents on a cloud service and backed up on an HDD) I still have 35gb left.
I spent a couple of months going to the Apple store to play with the machine. I did everything I would conceivably do with it and it performed admirably. In the end, for me, the trade off in portability versus computing power, portability won out.
Good luck.