Recently I downsized my work setup, moving from a 17” MacBook Pro and 30” Cinema Display to a simple 13” MacBook.

Why dump the nirvana of displays and laptops?

The large display was gorgeous, but having umpteen windows open was distracting sometimes. I found myself either overwhelmed when sitting to close, or leaning forward to read what I was looking at when too far away.

Originally I planned to only dump the display, but to my surprise Apple released the new MacBook on my birthday - must have been a sign, right?

Upon reviewing the specs, I found that it had everything I needed in a laptop, minus some frills and about $1000. As a bonus, I could transfer the 4GB of ram from my MacBook Pro.

After a quick dance on Craiglist, I sold the MacBook Pro in a mere 2 hours, then headed off to the Apple Store to snatch the new MacBook.

For the first week I toyed with picking up a 20” display, but resisted the urge so I could acclimate to the new setup.

Working on a small screen everything is easier to focus on (the perfect resolution?) and thanks to Leopard’s Spaces, I found that I didn’t miss the large desktop monitor.

The reduced screen space also gave me an understanding for the the sprawling mess a lot of web sites have become, something I strive to avoid in my work.

The last benefit is portability.

With the new setup I no longer dread packing up the laptop for a day out of the home office. In fact, I prefer getting out more now.