The critical issue (aside from the colours changing when your viewing angle changes, which is a biggie) is that the colour gamut for the MB Air screen is very small-65% of sRGB. Trying to profile the screen will yield no improvement because of the small colour gamut. What you see on screen will not bear any real resemblance to what you print or what others will see on wider gamut desktop screens with respect to colours (unless you only work inside the limited colour gamut the screen can display). It is about the worst screen colour-gamut wise-available on a contemporary laptop--even iPads and many Android tablets are better.
The question is not whether it can run the editing/graphics software. It does that just fine--only slower than a bigger machine, but fast enough for non-professional or casual use. But the screen cannot be used for professional or educational colour-critical work and I certainly wouldn't bet my educational career in graphic design on it.
That being said, hook up a suitable external monitor and you are in business. No issues then--but if you're tied to a desk, then a Mac mini is really a better choice. But if you need the portability (take it to class, etc.) the the MB Air plus a (suitable) desktop monitor for your photo/graphics editing gets all the bases covered.
And, as a general purpose laptop for non-colour critical applications, I don't think you could find a better choice unless you are desperate for more processing power and are willing to give up battery life.
But don't fool yourself that the MB Air is good enough for photo editing or graphics editing in any but the most primitive fashion.
The critical issue (aside from the colours changing when your viewing angle changes, which is a biggie) is that the colour gamut for the MB Air screen is very small-65% of sRGB. Trying to profile the screen will yield no improvement because of the small colour gamut. What you see on screen will not bear any real resemblance to what you print or what others will see on wider gamut desktop screens with respect to colours (unless you only work inside the limited colour gamut the screen can display). It is about the worst screen colour-gamut wise-available on a contemporary laptop--even iPads and many Android tablets are better.
The question is not whether it can run the editing/graphics software. It does that just fine--only slower than a bigger machine, but fast enough for non-professional or casual use. But the screen cannot be used for professional or educational colour-critical work and I certainly wouldn't bet my educational career in graphic design on it.
That being said, hook up a suitable external monitor and you are in business. No issues then--but if you're tied to a desk, then a Mac mini is really a better choice. But if you need the portability (take it to class, etc.) the the MB Air plus a (suitable) desktop monitor for your photo/graphics editing gets all the bases covered.
And, as a general purpose laptop for non-colour critical applications, I don't think you could find a better choice unless you are desperate for more processing power and are willing to give up battery life.
But don't fool yourself that the MB Air is good enough for photo editing or graphics editing in any but the most primitive fashion.