Interesting. Thanks for posting your observations, Paul. I've been curious about the Air as well, and I'm in a similar situation: purchased a MacBook Pro just over a year ago, use it for development, don't need a bunch of storage, value portability and lightness. I'd even be tempted to go with the smaller Air -- surely it can drive an external monitor.

How's your experience with FileVault? Any oddness or snafus? I'm thinking about flipping that switch.

I usually get rid of my hardware as soon as I no longer use it, but I realized recently that for some reason I have a 17" Sony Trinitron display in my garage that I've moved from house to house, state to state. Guess what. You can't even give them away on Craigslist. Or at least I haven't been able to, yet. I mention this apropos of nothing. Just whining. See, I could use that space in the garage. You know, for our car.