13" or 15" - yeah another one...sorry :)

[yawa]

Right...ive been meaning to buy a macbook pro for a while so as they've just been updated i thought i would make the move now.

My primary use is going to be the following:

* Media - playing mp3s/few movies/synching ipod etc. Could do with a fair amount of storage for music and movies.
* Office work - so MS office or something similar
* Web surfing

Occasionally ill also want to boot it into windows and play a few games via steam. Display size doesnt matter to much when playing games as ill probably plug it into an external display when i do.

What would you recommend? obviously for the top bit any of them will work fine. Just wonder if i really need to get the top end 15"?

I did look at the 13" but both have small HD's so id need to upgrade that straight away so thats already another £100 or so on top.

 

[spinnerlys]

If size doesn't matter, just get the 13", even the "lower" model will suffice for your needs, and upgrading the HDD is quite simple, just takes a little bit of screwing.

There's no need for the high end 15" for, except you game like a crazy pig, that just found an unused well.

 

[iSkier]

I'm in the same position as you yawa, can't decide between the two. I'm leaning towards the high end 13" with 500gb hd because of the portability and power, but like the screen size of the 15" for movies and stuff. I'm torn

 

[winninganthem]

Get the 13". You don't need the 15".

Done.

 

[yawa]

I'm in the same position as you yawa, can't decide between the two. I'm leaning towards the high end 13" with 500gb hd because of the portability and power, but like the screen size of the 15" for movies and stuff. I'm torn

Think im going to go for 13" after what the other guys said and buy a bigger HD. Thing is you really going to notice the difference when watching a movie?

Obviously changing the HD is easy...what about memory? Apples prices for both seem to be pretty high.

 

[spinnerlys]

Replacing the HDD is the same effort as replacing RAM.
You have to unscrew the bottom for both.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3419

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1270

 

[winninganthem]

Memory would probably be even easier than the HDD to upgrade on your own. With all things purchased from Apple, always buy RAM and HDD upgrades from 3rd party vendors if you want to save money and if you know what you're doing with a computer.

 

[shollingsw3]

I have been using a 15" MacBook Pro and I recently purchased the 13" MacBook Pro, which I am going to be using from now on. All of the recent benchmarks I have seen comparing the 13" MacBook Pro to the older 15" MacBook Pro have shown that the 13" is either better or the same as the 15" in everything but graphics related benchmarks. This really impressed me and I cannot wait to get the 13" MacBook Pro.