It's understandable that USB wouldn't be able to do Gigabit since transfer rate caps out at 480 megabits...
But I'd hint that Thunderbolt can do Gigabit ethernet pretty easily... once there are adapters for it, or if you already have a new ACD.
As for Air vs Pro, since I own both (both 2010 models), I think I can break it down like this:
Performance: both have their own drawbacks. The Pro is faster at encoding movies and running intensive stuffs sometimes (read on for why it's only "sometimes"), but the Air is generally more responsive and actually faster in just about everything.
Heat: Pro pushes out more heat when stressed. Without Coolbook, the Pro would throttle the CPU down to about 1.6GHz level instead of its original 2.66GHz value. That effectively makes it slower than the Air in most cases. Despite being in a thinner package, the Air pushes less heat and doesn't throttle while encoding. It seems weird, but under heavy stress, the Air actually beats the Pro a lot of time if both are running stock. Coolbook fixes that, though, and the Pro is faster again.
Screen: In terms of colors, I prefer the Pro. But in terms of usability, I'd choose the Air since it has higher resolution.
RAM: Surprisingly, 8GB vs 4GB or even 2GB (on my Air) isn't very noticeable. 8GB lets me run 2 VMs, but that's that. Photoshop, Lightroom, etc... don't really feel any faster or more responsive. If anything, I guess it's the difference between having 10 images open and 2 images open in Photoshop. Pro can do 10 and Air can do 2, but Air can stretch to 4 sometimes if the resolution is low.
Storage: 128GB is barely enough for me. I would go for more if I could. XCode and Adobe Web Premium both take almost 30GB, and the rest goes for something else. If anything, I'd say consider an external HDD if you were to go Air.
Battery life: both lasts the same on battery for my light coding tasks (mostly just type, type, and type all day, but WIFI constantly on).
Expansion: both has only 2 USB ports. Pro has built-in Ethernet so it's more useful for configuring older routers and switches. Specifically the Airport.
So in the end, I guess I prefer the Air over the Pro for portability and screen resolution. Since I travel quite regularly (embarrassingly for taking photos, not for work), I like Air more, but I think if you need a workstation, definitely go Pro.
I don't own the 2011 line, but that's only because Coolbook doesn't support Core i processors, and I fear CPU throttling would happen again, so I think that's a major point for consideration.
Facebook
Twitter