As with many programmers, I need a high-performance machine. Being a university student, my budget is quite limited, so I usually bought some mid-end gaming or entertainment laptop. (My last two are both ASUS N-series. They are pretty nice bang for the buck). But even though they are laptops, with the power brick there usually clocked in around 3.5-4 kilograms, which is not really that comfortable to carry everywhere.
As I am a university student, and in computer engineering nonetheless, I rarely are at home and spend a lot of time in the university whether it is the lecture, the lab, or talking with friend. As such, my time in front of my computer at home are limited.
By some incident, I got an old 11" MacBook Air (mid-2011) from my dad. This is actually for me to bring on my trip to the USA, but more on that later.
Since I got my MBA, it is light enough that I bring it with me almost everywhere. With MacBook Air, unlike my Windows laptop, I am usually confident that it would not really go weird on me (like automatic Windows update, etc etc). And with its long battery life (not as impressive as more recent MBA though) I don’t need to really find power outlet to use it.
Even though for more serious development I still prefer my i7 with 16GB RAM, my full-size mechanical keyboard and large screen, for on-the road quick fixes and such this MBA is more than enough.
I never, even thought having a very light notebook would be this significant, but apparently it does, and almost everyone who has used it are addicted.