Will the 11" MBA do for me?

Considering what you plan on doing with it, bad idea

Ive owned both 11" and 13" and another 11", Ill not go back to the 11" and if I was doing what you plan on doing, would not think of it.

13" has longer batt life, much larger cells, has a SD card slot the 11" doesnt have.

your choice is subjective, but theres not enough real estate on the screen for a LOT of what you are considering doing

Yes, get 8gig regardless.

😊

Agree that 13" is the way to go, I was pondering the 11" too but stepping up to the 13" was the best (extra) $100 I ever spent. The 13" is a significant difference in battery life and screen space, and the SD slot is a nice bonus, very glad I steered away from 11".

inedig

I'm wanting to know if it would feel like an upgrade, hardware wise, to go from late 2011 MBP to current MB

Yes, I have owned the last 2 releases of the Macbook Air..

and Photoshop Pro boots (for myself) in under 4 seconds full, rather than 7 seconds + in 2012 Air... and nearly 9+ seconds in the earliest model I owned.

Boot times in Mavericks and current Air went from 22 seconds (before) down to 7 seconds (for myself)

Yes, the newest Air has incredible 802ac wifi speeds from a AC base station (amazingly fast actually, I was unusually impressed)

Newest Air has DUAL mics

Newest Air runs much cooler with the Haswell processor as I can very well state, and its rather obvious upon use and comparison.

Newest Air has incredible battery life for most, and as Arstechnica reports 14+ hours battery life in some testing. I notice 20% average more battery life than before Mavericks.

However Pre-Mavericks, the Haswell AIR had, as Apple indicates in its non-flash web and texting indications on Apple.com in I5 and 13" 13+ Hours of battery life.

So, in short, yes, a big difference between the 2013 Air (in any size) and that of the 2012 or 2011 AIr. 😉

Here is an excellent video comparison between the 11” I5 vs. I7 2013 Macbook Air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDqJ-on03z4

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-465 0u/2

I5 vs. I7 performance 13” Macbook Air 2013

Boot performance

11.7 I5 ……11.4 I7

Cinebench

1.1 I5….1.41 I7

IMovie Import and Opt.

6.69 I5….5.35 I7

IMovie Export

10.33 I5…8.20 I7

Final Cut Pro X

21.47 I5…17.71 I7

Adobe Lightroom 3 Export

25.8 I5….31.8 I7

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Performance

27.3 I5…22.6 I7

Macbook Air (13") ports:

Well Ive owned a couple 2011 macbook Pro (fixed and sold) and still have a 2012 Macbook Pro.

In comparing the two, in honesty, my Pro collects dust (however the new Pro is very close to the Air in form factor, so now the comparison is not like what I am now referring to!)

In lugging my macbook around and in traveling here and there, I just dont dare even think of packing my Pro with me, not even for one second.

The two (YOUR older macbook Pro, and my 2012) are really night and day in comparison, namely in packing around, and ESPECIALLY in fast boot times, and cool running.

The Air is a "joy" to turn on in the morning and check email, stocks, etc......7 second (or less) boot time, fast on, fast off, lightweight.

You as well as myself know in this type of use, the older macbook Pro does not approach this ease of "quick use" 😉.

However this may not be important to yourself, rather putting it out there as a definite difference.

But yes, take the new Air and Pro for a 'test drive' at your local Apple or retail store.