I don't get this argument. Run local for basic testing, else use it as an ssh machine. I work with super computers. The power of my development machine usually doesn't make much difference, I spend a lot of my time ssh'd anyways. So if something has a nice screen, good battery life, and a comfortable keyboard then I'm good. As long as it works for presentations and can compile my latex files, I'm good.

I don't see Airs as development platforms. They are portable platforms.