13" vs 15"

[jasonburnett3]

got 2 weeks more to decide this !

I need pointing in the right direction please having just purchased my second ever computer..macbook pro 13 inch 2.4ghz with 250mb.

i had a Sony Vaio 10.6 inch TGR1mp which cost £1800 back in april 2004 and now has had its day after i threw the optical mouse at the screen after several problems with xp and other stuff and it is now unusable, several other problems with it also including broken web cam and track pad and it does not charge cos ac adaptor is very loose.

I have bought the new core duo basic macbook pro 2 weeks ago but still have £400 burning a hole in my pocket. I have about 40gb of photos and music in total and mostly use it for social networking, fotos, web pages, travelblogging. My previous sony machine had a pentium 1ghz m processor and 40gb hard drive with 512 of RAM..Please let me know ur thoughts on whether its worth doing any of these or holding onto the money and get the new iphone 4g or iphone HD in 2 months.

1) upgrade to 128 SSD - £279

2) upgrade to 2.66 GHZ processor - £249

3) change for basic 15 inch new mb pro with new intel I5 processor and better graphics - cost £499 etra

4) stick with the 2.4ghz and spend the £400 on a set of B&W MM1's speakers instead



I want to future proof my purchase a little and need to know whether it will be sufficient, i dont like buying new things every couple years.

thanks n advance

jason

 

[bjavor]

I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to resolve the same question for weeks.

Originally I've been waiting to replace my current Rev.B MBA with an updated one (and in fact I'm still hoping...). However the increased battery life on the new MBPs is tempting me more and more. Especially as I've run into several cases where the battery on the MBA ran out on me.

My biggest problem is this: I love the 13" form factor, but hate the glossy screen. On the other hand the 15" feels way too big and heavy...

My typical usage would mostly belong to the casual/light category. However an argument for the 15" may be that I intend to get into OS X programming, and the bigger screen may be a benefit there.

In addition the 15" may allow me to do some occasional gaming. Though that would be rare, and the 330M would only allow low resolutions and low/med quality anyway. So while it be nice to be able to run StarCraft II this may not justify it. In fact if gaming would be an important enough consideration than a secondary 15" Alienware notebook may offer a much better performance for less money...

This would be my main computer though and I do not generally like external displays, so this also favours the 15".

And yet. I'm still afraid that I would regret the 15" due to its size It just feels that you'd think twice before even taking it to the couch...

Does anyone know how much resources you'd need for Xcode?
Also would upgrading to 8GB RAM be worth it or would it be overkill?

 

[RedJeans]

I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to resolve the same question for weeks.

Originally I've been waiting to replace my current Rev.B MBA with an updated one (and in fact I'm still hoping...). However the increased battery life on the new MBPs is tempting me more and more. Especially as I've run into several cases where the battery on the MBA ran out on me.

My biggest problem is this: I love the 13" form factor, but hate the glossy screen. On the other hand the 15" feels way too big and heavy...

My typical usage would mostly belong to the casual/light category. However an argument for the 15" may be that I intend to get into OS X programming, and the bigger screen may be a benefit there.

In addition the 15" may allow me to do some occasional gaming. Though that would be rare, and the 330M would only allow low resolutions and low/med quality anyway. So while it be nice to be able to run StarCraft II this may not justify it. In fact if gaming would be an important enough consideration than a secondary 15" Alienware notebook may offer a much better performance for less money...

This would be my main computer though and I do not generally like external displays, so this also favours the 15".

And yet. I'm still afraid that I would regret the 15" due to its size It just feels that you'd think twice before even taking it to the couch...

Does anyone know how much resources you'd need for Xcode?
Also would upgrading to 8GB RAM be worth it or would it be overkill?

You could always get a screen protector that is anti-glare.

 

[bjavor]

You could always get a screen protector that is anti-glare.

Do those really work? I never seen one so I cannot judge. But to me they sound like they would just make the screen worse albeit slightly less glossy...

 

[RedJeans]

Do those really work? I never seen one so I cannot judge. But to me they sound like they would just make the screen worse albeit slightly less glossy...

Not sure how they'd work.

I think I've decided on the 13" because 15" just seems really big and honestly, I can't justify paying an extra $700+ for nothing.

 

[Penn Jennings]

I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to resolve the same question for weeks.

Originally I've been waiting to replace my current Rev.B MBA with an updated one (and in fact I'm still hoping...). However the increased battery life on the new MBPs is tempting me more and more. Especially as I've run into several cases where the battery on the MBA ran out on me.

My biggest problem is this: I love the 13" form factor, but hate the glossy screen. On the other hand the 15" feels way too big and heavy...

My typical usage would mostly belong to the casual/light category. However an argument for the 15" may be that I intend to get into OS X programming, and the bigger screen may be a benefit there.

In addition the 15" may allow me to do some occasional gaming. Though that would be rare, and the 330M would only allow low resolutions and low/med quality anyway. So while it be nice to be able to run StarCraft II this may not justify it. In fact if gaming would be an important enough consideration than a secondary 15" Alienware notebook may offer a much better performance for less money...

This would be my main computer though and I do not generally like external displays, so this also favours the 15".

And yet. I'm still afraid that I would regret the 15" due to its size It just feels that you'd think twice before even taking it to the couch...

Does anyone know how much resources you'd need for Xcode?
Also would upgrading to 8GB RAM be worth it or would it be overkill?

I use a MBP 13" as my primary workstation. I replaced the 250 GB HD with a 7500 RPM 500 GB HD, so I only get about 5 to 6 hours on a charge... But still, WOW! When I work at my desk I use a 24" 1920x1200 monitor as my primary display and it works out great. You might be able to get the best of both worlds with a MBP 13 and an external monitor. If you need the screen real estate while on the move though, it sounds like you'll have to go with the 15.

As far as memory goes, keep this simple rule in mind. *IF* you need more memory, nothing will increase your performance more than increasing your memory. A 1.8 C2D will smoke an 2.66 i7 if the i7 is badly memory constrained and the C2D is not. However, adding more memory if your applications can't or won't use will do nothing at all to increase your performance. So before you drop $400 going from 4 GB to 8 GB, make should that you are memory constrained or that your application will use it.

 

[alust2013]

Basically, unless you are doing some pretty heavy editing, 8GB RAM is no more advantage than 4. I get away pretty well with 2 gigs, although it slows a bit when gaming. I plan to upgrade to 4, which should fix that pretty well. I also think that getting a monitor, keyboard and mouse would be helpful, especially with the 13 and if you decide to do programming. even though the 15 with the hi res screen might have enough real estate, you won't want to look at such small text. And as good as the keyboard on the MBP is, it would not be fun to code on that for long periods of time. I have the aluminum apple KB, and I love it, so that could be a good choice.