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MBP13Guy25

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I have the 13" macbook pro since the 14th of June this year, so a couple days ago. I'm going to be studying and majoring animation design in college. I'm kinda regretting, not regretting, kinda confused if I should get the 15" macbook pro? Or it's fine with the 13" ? My parents have the imac 24" screen. I don't knwo which to choose. If I should return this and get an exchange for the 15"? And I have student discount, how much difference would I have ot pay left exchange this 13" to a 15"? Advice? 🙂
 
The 13 will be fine. Great actually. The low end 13 is faster than the high end 15 from a couple years ago... what did people do then, not do anything cpu intensive on their computers? The biggest bottleneck in speed nowadays is the HD. I would suggest getting an ssd to load those big animation files instantly.
 
How much are the ssd's? and the HD? upgrade? How much would it all be before I have to take animation design?
 
If you are doing design work, the bigger screen/higher resolution is a massive asset and will allow you to work more efficiently. The display is arguably the most important component of your computer as it is your main window into it.

Get the 15 inch High res Antiglare for design work, glossy screens are bling for consumers who want to be flashy.

Do not upgrade your HD and RAM through Apple, its way too pricey. As for SSD I would pass on this upgrade for the time being because of price:storage ratios. 500 GB 7200 RPM drive is plenty fast.
 
If you're going to design on it get the 15" or a external monitor. If you want to exchange difference between the 13" and the base 15" is between $300 and
$500 depending on your 13" model...
 
My Macbook Pro 13" is the early 2010. If I don't have budget for another $300 due to school. How can I upgrade the SSD and HDD in the future? And how much are they through apple? Or is there other alternative resources?
 
Well, I study visual communications design and it includes animation. I would be rather uncomfortable with an 13 inch macbook pro. I spend most of my day working on it, anything smaller than 15'' (which I currently have) would be painful for my neck and spine in the long term. I also would advise to go for highest resolution you can. I'd buy an i7 hi-res antiglare. If you don't want that, at least buy an 15". You'll be thankful for that later🙂
 
Like I said, no budget for the 15".

Where and what SSD can I use in the future and where can I find it? How much would it be through apple since I have applecare.
 
I see. Apple SSD's are not very good, you can easily find many better SSD's. I don't have specific knowledge about them but Intel SSD's are good, as far as I have heard.

For the laptop, in that circumstance I'd go for a cheap 1920x1200 screen and SSD + ram upgrade. SSD is amazing in itself, but they are too expensive for my taste for now..
 
Well, I study visual communications design and it includes animation. I would be rather uncomfortable with an 13 inch macbook pro. I spend most of my day working on it, anything smaller than 15'' (which I currently have) would be painful for my neck and spine in the long term. I also would advise to go for highest resolution you can. I'd buy an i7 hi-res antiglare. If you don't want that, at least buy an 15". You'll be thankful for that later🙂

Really? I spend all day on illustrator and photoshop and I don't understand why you would need anything bigger, or want it because of the bigger overall size.
 
Personal preference. also, illustrator w. photoshop is not exactly in the same category with cinema 4d or maya. Photoshop and Illustrator have toolbars and preference panes laid around a central image, but for 3d suites viewport is just one of all the panels that can exist in the screen. If you take a look at how cinema 4d looks at an 1280x800 13 inch its rather obvious. the area you see the work is maybe 200 oe 300 pixels wide, all other space is covered by essential panels. 300 pixels of sight is not uncomfortable, it's totally useless.

In my humble opinion, of course.
 
Personal preference. also, illustrator w. photoshop is not exactly in the same category with cinema 4d or maya. Photoshop and Illustrator have toolbars and preference panes laid around a central image, but for 3d suites viewport is just one of all the panels that can exist in the screen. If you take a look at how cinema 4d looks at an 1280x800 13 inch its rather obvious. the area you see the work is maybe 200 oe 300 pixels wide, all other space is covered by essential panels. 300 pixels of sight is not uncomfortable, it's totally useless.

In my humble opinion, of course.

Good point, though I wouldn't say I'm working with things quite that small. I suggest to the op that you go to a store with both on display and see what you want to buy: a smaller and lighter computer with better battery but a slight sacrifice in performance and screen size, or a bigger and heavier computer with a slightly better processor and screen but with less battery life and portability.
 
My Macbook Pro 13" is the early 2010. If I don't have budget for another $300 due to school. How can I upgrade the SSD and HDD in the future? And how much are they through apple? Or is there other alternative resources?

If you dont have money for the 15 inch then you dont have money for the RAM / SSD upgrade. The display size and resolution is FAR more important than RAM and SSD if you are doing design anyways. I'd seriously suggest you try to borrow the money from parents if at all possible and explain your case about display size. A decent external monitor is about 300 dollars, RAM is 250 dollars, and an SSD is all dependant on how much storage you need, but you are looking at close to 300 dollars just for 128GB SSD, you should probably forget about SSD you dont really even need it.
 
I couldn't agree more. Screen is far most important thing you should think. If you can't do any, at least buy a decent monitor for 13".
 
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