13" haswell mid-model or 15" early 2013 i7 2.3/8/256

[JPage]

So, I've some Apple products (iPhone, iPod and iPad), but for the first time, I want to switch from Windows to OSX.

My current laptop has 5 years old and I think it's time to change. Then, I read a lot of threads and here is the deal....

The limit that I established is 1500€, so I have 2 options:

-Option A: Late 2013 rMBP 13" 2.4ghz i5, 8gb ram, 256 gb ssd (new)
-Option B: Early 2013 rMBP 15" 2.3ghz i7, 8gb ram, 256 gb ssd (5 months of use but in mint condition, 42 cycles and samsung panel)

I will use it for watching movies/series, college stuff, some music editing and web browsing. Do you think the 15" is too heavy to carry around everyday?

I know that a lot of people make the same question over and over again, but I need some advices.
In your opinion, which option should I take or which is it worth the money?

(sorry for my bad english but it is not my native language)

 

[Scott7975]

I carry around my 15 to college everyday. Its not that heavy.

 

[Tears Apart]

Everybody has different opinions when it comes to portability and form factor.

The only way to be sure is to try them both and 'feel' them rather than think in terms of specs...

 

[JohnDoe98]

Does the temperature the computer runs at matter to you? I had a 15" RMBP, from 2012, and it always ran cool except when doing the rare intensive tasks on it. I just replaced it with the 13" haswell rmbp and I notice that even just watching 1080p movies in VLC or watching flash videos in Safari will get the 13" pretty warm/hot where that never happened with the 15". Otherwise haven't noticed any differences in terms of performance. Though the specs could fool you otherwise, when you actually hold and manipulate the 13", it's considerably lighter/manoeuvrable.

In either case though, the 15" is not a heavy computer by any means and it's perfectly suited for college stuff. Just my two cents since I've had experience with both.

 

[JPage]

So, the main question here is:

Should I choose quad core, larger screen, better speakers and performance over portability and better battery?

I think the 13" is not worth the money, maybe due to the integrated graphics card and dual core processor...
On the other hand, I'm afraid of taking an used MacBook for that amount of money. Do you think that 42 battery cycles is a little bit or should I go for it? It has Samsung panel, so I'm not worried with image retention problems.

I really appreciate your feedback

 

[Tears Apart]

Do you think that 42 battery cycles is a little bit or should I go for it?

42 cycles is nothing, but that doesn't say how much it was used plugged