Macbook Air or Pro?

Pro.

i had the same choice to make and went Air due to portability. Love it, but wish i had the ability to do ANYTHING with it.

small storage space and less RAM make it less useful.

Windows Laptop. If your fanboyism is with Apple, Macbook Pro with an SSD.

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follow all the other Windows sheep...

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opposed to the Apple sheep?

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Maybe he doesn't care to follow all the other Windows sheep...

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Now I have seen everything

I'm not really sure what your budget is but is upgrading the memory in the Air before purchase an option. I was contemplating the same purchase but I went with the Air with an i7 and 8gb of RAM and a 256 SSD and haven't regretted it. People have told me that I should have went with the retina MBP but I have never seen the retina display so I don't know what I am missing nor do I care. I now have a high performing, portable machine with a decent enough display for me.

(no message)

Where'd you get the MBA for $727 after tax?

Air all day. If you need more computing power than the Air offers, you're doing some crazy stuff that I've never encountered. I have a 2011 Air and just upgraded to Yosemite with no issues - the thing runs as well as it did 3 years ago. The Pro no longer comes with an optical drive either, so that's not a factor.

The only issue is that the Air is reaching the end of its life cycle in current form. Rumors of an all new version have been around for more than a year.

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The smaller amount of memory worries me about the Air. I really want this computer to be fast and last a few years.

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It's a difficult comparison to make without a budget in mind. Obviously, everyone wants their computer to last a few years. For some people, a $300 clunker from Best Buy will be all they need for years. Others need top of the line for more hardware-intensive applications, and tend to upgrade/replace on a similar cycle as the $300 clunker folks do. And then there are some who overbuy top of the line and don't upgrade for 8 years or so. It would be irresponsible and ill-informed of me to tell you how long X product/configuration will last you without knowing exactly what programs you use and your browsing habits.

That said, there is cause for concern with only 4GB of RAM. I consider this the minimum in any new notebook or desktop, whether it's Windows or OS X -- while each OS has its own method of memory management, the efficiency is identical (obviously favoring native apps in most situations). But just because 4GB should be considered minimum doesn't mean you'll need more than 4GB even in 3-4 years. Doesn't mean you won't need more right now, either. All depends on what you're doing. Outside of the obvious RAM-hungry programs like the big blockbuster games, video/photo editing, 3D modeling, etc., browser junkies like myself who constantly have dozens of tabs across multiple windows will also use a lot of RAM. I've been at 10GB usage just from browser windows/tabs and all of my always-on programs. And then I tend to launch a game without closing anything, so I get my money's worth from my 16GB.

Not knowing your budget or use, here is a quick comparison between a MB Air and Pro option with 8GB of RAM.

First chart is a fully-upgraded macbook air (except for the SSD -- stayed with 128GB) vs. the cheapest Pro with SSD.

Despite the i7 in the Air, the Pro's i5 is still pretty much the same in terms of single and multi-threaded performance. With the Pro, the extra $50 gets you an indisputably, significantly better screen in every way. But, you lose a few hours of battery life, and it weighs an extra half pound. That's really the gist of their differences. Neither of them have any practical means of upgrading. RAM is soldered in both, and both use the same proprietary-form-factor PCIe SSDs that you can only get from Apple for a jacked up price.

Really, the purpose of that comparison was just to show you that the equivalent performance and longevity between the Air and Pro converge at that price point, and you can see the price difference is not that big. From here, if you want more performance (and to spend more money), you have to get a Pro. If you want less performance (for less money), you have to get an Air. If you're OK with the performance level shown, it's basically way better screen vs. a bit more portability. It's definitely worth noting what's been said above about this gen of MB Airs being EOL. If you bought one brand new today for full price, you'll probably feel ripped off in the coming months.

I have a MacBook Air. I love it but we also have an iMac with 1t of memory

I bought a external HD for my MacBook to store movies.