13" i7 MBP vs 15" QM MBP for dev work with light gaming

[LaunchpadBS]

I'm stuck with a tough decision here, I need to upgrade my old 08 unibody MBP because it's just too slow.

I've bought a nice big monitor so I was looking to reduce desktop presence by buying a mac mini, but seeing as there's no real timeline for the refresh and I don't want to pay 2012 prices for 2011 tech I've come back to the MBP.

My use, light gaming every now and then, mainly Diablo 3 as I've got a PS3.
I do quite a bit of development work in Xcode as well as running MS Visual Studio via parallels for more dev work. I also run handbrake overnight to convert to ATV.

I'm looking more at the 13" i7 MBP as it's quite a bit smaller than the 15", but my only worry is will the dual core i7 with 16GB ram and a hybrid HD (Seagate momentus XT) be able to handle my workload and play Diablo 3 on a decent enough setting through my external monitor?
As far as desk space goes the 13" is quite a bit smaller than the 15" and it'll mainly be closed when using the external monitor.

Been going round in circles with this, any advice would be greatly appretiated.

 

[filmak]

I have a new 13" 2.9 i7 with 16 gb ram and a samsung 512 ssd, running win 7 via Parallels and a lot of office applications, ps cs5 etc. with no problems, it's a very good choice if the smaller size of the 13" mbp matters.
I don't know about your games, but for work purposes this mbp is splendid.

 

[LaunchpadBS]

I have a new 13" 2.9 i7 with 16 gb ram and a samsung 512 ssd, running win 7 via Parallels and a lot of office applications, ps cs5 etc. with no problems, it's a very good choice if the smaller size of the 13" mbp matters.
I don't know about your games, but for work purposes this mbp is splendid.

It's not much for gaming really, I just want to play D3, can't do it on my PS3 so that's pretty much it.

Feel like demoing it?

Does the performance difference from the SSD warrant the price? I have a fair amount of music and the tools and resources I use with app development mean I would have to get at least a 512GB SSD so it'll cost quite a bit.

 

[panzer06]

It's not much for gaming really, I just want to play D3, can't do it on my PS3 so that's pretty much it.

Feel like demoing it?

Does the performance difference from the SSD warrant the price? I have a fair amount of music and the tools and resources I use with app development mean I would have to get at least a 512GB SSD so it'll cost quite a bit.

If D3 is Diablo3 you won't really be satisfied with the Intel GPU. I just can't live with a system that doesn't have a discrete GPU. However, I probably play more games and use bootcamp too so I'm biased.

Cheers,

 

[filmak]

It's not much for gaming really, I just want to play D3, can't do it on my PS3 so that's pretty much it.

Feel like demoing it?

Does the performance difference from the SSD warrant the price? I have a fair amount of music and the tools and resources I use with app development mean I would have to get at least a 512GB SSD so it'll cost quite a bit.

I have the samsung 830 512 Gb installed. I think that the ssd is a must, if you try it once you will never going to miss a HD.

If you need the speed and the reliability, who doesn't?, it's definitely worth it.