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13in or 15in pro?PLEASE help!

C

Chinglish

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2012
15
0
I'm a student and I use pro for reading papers and editting PPT for presentation. I don't play games for several years. But if the pro can run some 3D game such as wow , that's will be perfect. I want qual core i7 because several years later I want to upgrade it by SSD and 16 gigs RRAM. but is it a problem that the weight of 15 in pro to carry? Because I will take it to lab and library frequently. Considering the updating , I prefer 15 in;considering the weight, I prefer 13 in.

Thank you for your minutes. :D
 
Chinglish said:
I'm a student and I use pro for reading papers and editting PPT for presentation. I don't play games for several years. But if the pro can run some 3D game such as wow , that's will be perfect. I want qual core i7 because several years later I want to upgrade it by SSD and 16 gigs RRAM. but is it a problem that the weight of 15 in pro to carry? Because I will take it to lab and library frequently. Considering the updating , I prefer 15 in;considering the weight, I prefer 13 in.

Thank you for your minutes. :D
Click to expand...

15 - it is not that big of a difference in weight. I must admit the 13 is nice :)
 
i have the 15" and the weight itsnt bad. i got used to it. i wish i was rich enough to have a MBP or iMac at home and an Air for school. but i think that the 13" would be better suited for taking to and from school, next to the Air of course. the 13" doesnt have dedicated GPU nor quad core so... : ( but like i said, i have the 15" and its not too large to take to class, and it has all the goodies i want.
 
Chinglish said:
I want qual core i7 because several years later I want to upgrade it by SSD and 16 gigs RRAM. but is it a problem that the weight of 15 in pro to carry? Considering the updating , I prefer 15 in;considering the weight, I prefer 13 in.
Click to expand...

I'm not following you... why couldn't you buy the SSD and 16 GB RAM upgrade for the 13"? I did both for mine (albeit with a 8 GB upgrade cause I couldn't buy the 16--but it is available).
 
I find the 13" more portable! The 15 is def. the sweet spot, but for lugging around.. I like the 13" MBP!

Heck, I'd recommend the 13" MBA if they would allow for more than 4GB RAM!

Given your present requirements, I don't see why you'd need 16GB RAM!

Also, I doubt you'll keep the laptop for several years!

Go play with the 13 and 15 at BB and get whatever's more comfortable.
 
You and I are in the same boat!
I got my 13" MBP for as a gift end of Jan of this year for starting school. I didn't pick it out, came home with it on my bed. First computer, first mac. I've always used my family computer we all shared it. I use mine personal use, school, work and gaming use. I like the 13" MBP a lot, the portablity, light-weight fits my needs, I must say. I am happy. I hope whatever choice you decide, I hope you enjoy it. :D
 
drumrobot said:
I'm not following you... why couldn't you buy the SSD and 16 GB RAM upgrade for the 13"? I did both for mine (albeit with a 8 GB upgrade cause I couldn't buy the 16--but it is available).
Click to expand...
yeah,i agree with you.But the cores equipped in 13'' and 15'' can't be replaced . So my will urge me to buy the 15'' which is heavier.:eek:

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RoyWill said:
If you travel alot .. use a 13" otherwise .. 15"... good luck..

I am using a 13" and just love it!!
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well.how about 13'' air?For male，which one is better？ and are there some basically difference between i5(air) and i7(air)?
thanks:D
 
I have the High end MacBook Pro "15 and gaming works awesome no complaints there.

I had to have the 15" because of the dedicated graphics, because i do a lot of portable gaming, i usually play with friends every now and then, and i also do video editing and such. The weight is not as bad as i feared, but it is still heavy, and coming from a MacBook Air "13 to a 15" Pro was definitely a huge change in weight.

I have wondered if i should get a low end macbook air "13 for studying, since i'm going to study for 4 years very soon.
 
M5RahuL said:
I find the 13" more portable! The 15 is def. the sweet spot, but for lugging around.. I like the 13" MBP!

Heck, I'd recommend the 13" MBA if they would allow for more than 4GB RAM!

Given your present requirements, I don't see why you'd need 16GB RAM!

Also, I doubt you'll keep the laptop for several years!

Go play with the 13 and 15 at BB and get whatever's more comfortable.
Click to expand...
I'm computer noob. 16G...um...I think the bigger the better. :p
 
Both are good, tricky choice down to money.

My Mum has a 13" MBP (early 2011) i5 & standard HDD, it is a lovely little Mac and runs WoW fine as long as you don't try to Raid with it. I am putting 8gb in it soon to double its headroom. Corsair memory ofc it is cheap as chips.
My GF's son is at Uni with a 15" MBP (late 2011) with 16gb RAM and a 128 GB SSD. It is an awesome piece of kit but the SSD is a little small so he has an external HDD for storage & backup. The cost of the 15" is the biggest decider, if you don't need the lunatic speed of an SSD and maxed out RAM the 13" is a perfect companion for a lot less wonga.
Pocket size picks the winner. :)
 
gpzjock said:
My Mum has a 13" MBP (early 2011) i5 & standard HDD, it is a lovely little Mac and runs WoW fine as long as you don't try to Raid with it. I am putting 8gb in it soon to double its headroom. Corsair memory ofc it is cheap as chips.
My GF's son is at Uni with a 15" MBP (late 2011) with 16gb RAM and a 128 GB SSD. It is an awesome piece of kit but the SSD is a little small so he has an external HDD for storage & backup. The cost of the 15" is the biggest decider, if you don't need the lunatic speed of an SSD and maxed out RAM the 13" is a perfect companion for a lot less wonga.
Pocket size picks the winner. :)
Click to expand...
That is puzzle now. I have to give up some and make a decision. =.=
 
I just upgraded from a 13" Macbook to a 15" Macbook Pro. I used to bring my Macbook to school with me every day for three years, then to work with me every day. I now bring the MBP to work with me every day. The difference in weight is imperceptible to me. The only difference, for me, is that the 15" takes up a bit more space in my bag. Even then, it's still a thoroughly portable laptop.

The difference between the 1280x800 screen and the 1680x1050 screen is absolutely massive as well. If you have a lot of windows open usually, or use applications that would benefit from some more screen real estate, I'd definitely go with the 15" with the high res display.

As for the i5 vs. i7: I went for the i7 because it has hyper-threading, which makes a massive difference when I'm working in Logic. The i7 can handle a good 20-30 more tracks, in large part due to the hyper threading. If you don't need that kind of power though, don't waste your money.
 
This is a question i too agonised over. I prayed to various divinities, posted on numerous forums, sought professional assistance and was still unable to come up with an answer, until early one morning I was woken up by a road to Damascus type revelation.

The correct answer is to buy both. (the 15" must be high resolution).
 
Try both out at your local apple store. I have a 13" MBP, quite portable and nice, but I find the screen a bit too small for some of my tasks, such as photoshop, and Lightroom. My next laptop will be a 15" but you should take both out for a test drive so to speak.
 
I gave my son our 2007 15 in. MacBook Pro and bought the 13 in. I was going back and forth should I get the 15 in. or 13 in. Tell you the truth I'm really impressed with the 13 in. So much easier to carry around.
 
Chinglish said:
I'm a student and I use pro for reading papers and editting PPT for presentation. I don't play games for several years. But if the pro can run some 3D game such as wow , that's will be perfect. I want qual core i7 because several years later I want to upgrade it by SSD and 16 gigs RRAM. but is it a problem that the weight of 15 in pro to carry? Because I will take it to lab and library frequently. Considering the updating , I prefer 15 in;considering the weight, I prefer 13 in.

Thank you for your minutes. :D
Click to expand...

The difference is roughly 1lbs(0,454kg if you'd rather have metric measurements). Barely noticable in a backpack full of books.
 
Lanarae said:
Tell you the truth I'm really impressed with the 13 in. So much easier to carry around.
Click to expand...

Definitely is, and I love the form factor, but as I mentioned it for me. The lack of screen real estate is impacting my usage.
 
I have the 13" MB, apparently it weighs 5 lbs. The 15" MBP that's out now weighs 5.6 lbs. I don't find mine heavy at all, in fact I carry it around by the corner with one hand all the time.

With that said, I can't wait to get the 15" MBP when the new one comes out. I personally don't think it's much of a jump from the 13" to 15" to where it will be too difficult to carry around. Also, I really want the bigger screen size. I love how on bigger screens you can see multiple pages of word docs. Right now I have to make different windows really small to fit multiples of anything on the screen at once. I suspect I will find myself enjoying the extra screen space a lot more than complaining about it being too big. Not to mention the huge increase in performance.

I carry mine around in my backpack, and I'm pretty sure most are rated to carry up to 15" laptops.
 
I went back and forth between the air and the mbp and settled on the 13" mbp. I didn't see the difference in the screen as a deciding factor, especially considering the price. Good luck with your decision.
 
I just purchased my first Mac in Dec 2011 and I went thru the same trauma of making a decision between the MBP 13 or 15. The first thing that helped was going to the store and actually getting a feel for both machines. I really liked the 15 inch but at the end of the day portability won out. That's not to say the 15 inch isn't portable, but the 13 was just perfect. I travel a lot for business and the slightly less weight and profile was just right for me.

I take my MBP 13 to work almost everyday and find it to be quite comfortable to travel with. I think that either way you go, you won't end up making a bad decision. Good Luck.
 
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