13 vs 15 inch Macbook Pro

[desiterp]

Hello All,

I am planning to buy my FIRST Macbook Pro(13 or 15 inch). My primary use will be software development. Along with the development environment (IDE), I need to have one virtual machine running in the background most of the time.

My current HP 17" laptop with Core 2 Duo (2 gigs of RAM) somehow just manages this task. I have to walk in the university and the 17" makes me suffer a lot. I need a powerful but portable laptop.

I am very much confused between 13" with C2D and 15" with i5

Any suggestions?

 

[dsprimal]

get the 13" with more ram and ssd. obviously 13" is the most portable, in which that's what your looking for, and with those updated configs you will have a tiny but beastly machine! good luck.

 

[cloroxbleach4]

If you need the power go ahead and go for the 15" inch. You're already used to a 17" so a 15" should be a good balance of portability and power. That's how I ended up with a 15".

 

[PygmySurfer]

I'd go with the 15" - you'll have a higher resolution display, much better for coding. Plus, it's got more power, which will be useful if you've got the VM running all the time.

 

[Tom71]

I'd also suggest a 15in for coding. And get the HR one.

 

[djasterix]

Go with the 15", It's a really portable machine, I carry it all day and it's great.

 

[mrsir2009]

If I were you I'd get a 13" MacBook Pro with 4GB of RAM, and a SSD. With those specs, your MacBook Pro will scream😀 A lot of people say that a 13" screen is too small, but once you get used to it its fine. The battery life is good, and you shouldn't need a massive screen for software development.

*You can also get a 24" Apple display, in case you do need a big screen once in a while. It would also be nice to watch movies or play games on if the need arises. I'm going to get a 24" Apple display for my 13" MacBook Pro when I can😀