17 Or 15

[adamjackson]

My first Mac was a 12" iBook 600Mhz G3. I upgraded to a 13" MacBook in 2006, 2.33 15" MBP in 2007 and I'm selling my 2.93Ghz MBP 15" for a new MBP next week.

15" has always been a great size for me and I plug it into a 24" Dell LCD at work.

4/7 days a week I'm at home or at a cafe getting work done so I thought a 17" would be perfect because of extra screen real estate.

I fly on a plane once a month and 15" is too big so I think I'll just get a netbook for the occasional out of town business trips.

IDK 17" is tempting with the latest price drop but 15" I'm comfortable with. What do you think?

 

[JasonR]

Do you still have the 13" Macbook? 13" is perfect for traveling and is a powerhouse.

Between the 15 and 17, go with the 17. The 15's resolution isn't much better than the 13, so you don't really get much for the $$ and extra bulk. I have a 17" Macbook Pro (bought two days ago) and am picking up a 13" Macbook Pro for when I have to travel light.

I don't really see a need for a dedicated desktop anymore...

 

[Anuba]

The 15's resolution isn't much better than the 13, so you don't really get much for the $$ and extra bulk.

True that.

I don't understand why they don't change it to 1680x1050. It's been an option on many PC notebooks for about six years now.

The 15" has 110 pixels per inch, the 17" has 133. With 1680x1050 the 15" would have 129 PPI which would make it more consistent with the 17".

Same goes for the 13" models, those could be 1440x900 like the 15" is now. The PPI would be 130.

13" - 130 PPI
15" - 129 PPI
17" - 133 PPI

...instead of the current situation...

13" - 113 PPI
15" - 110 PPI
17" - 133 PPI

Doesn't really make sense to have X-large pixels on the 13"/15" and small pixels on the 17", when the 13"/15" models are the ones that need compensation for the smaller screen sizes.

 

[adamjackson]

wow. I had no idea that the ppi was so much smaller for 15" I'm going to hit an apple store tonight and really spend some time with the 17" because, these days the price isn't a huge difference like it was before.

 

[///M5]

I don't understand why they don't change it to 1680x1050. It's been an option on many PC notebooks for about six years now.

To make you buy the 17".

 

[uiop.]

Get a top spec 15".

 

[midgetsanchez]

Get a 17". The price difference isn't that much between the high-end 15" and the 17"(roughly $200). Also, regardless, the 17 is NOT all that much bigger than the 15. It's only ONE INCH longer and 3/4ths of an inch wider. Thickness is essentially the same. Look at this excellent comparison:

As you can see, footprint-wise, the difference between the 15" and the 17" is NOT that significant. I'd go for the 17" simply due to the incredible 1920 screen + expresscard.

 

[mackpro]

My first Mac was a 12" iBook 600Mhz G3.



IDK 17" is tempting with the latest price drop but 15" I'm comfortable with. What do you think?

1st - My first Mac was the very same one, I was in 7th grade and it was a christmas present. The damn thing changed my life.

I just picked up a 17" Matte Unibody yesterday and I truly feel like a 7th grader getting a Christmas present. Its a damn good machine.

 

[catdog02481]

1st - My first Mac was the very same one, I was in 7th grade and it was a christmas present. The damn thing changed my life.

I just picked up a 17" Matte Unibody yesterday and I truly feel like a 7th grader getting a Christmas present. Its a damn good machine.

Second that, also very happy with Matte 17" 2.8Ghz new

 

[Anuba]

As you can see, footprint-wise, the difference between the 15" and the 17" is NOT that significant. I'd go for the 17" simply due to the incredible 1920 screen + expresscard.

Plus...

- An extra hour of battery life.

- 3 USB ports. Not that 3 is a lot (4 is the minimum on professional PC notebooks), but at least it's more than the miserable 2(!) ports found on the 15".

- Sunon "MagLev" fans (zero friction = zero vibration and wobble). The 15" has cheaper, traditional fans (at least the previous revision did, not sure about the updated 15" released this week).

- The BT chip is behind the optical drive. On the 15" they put it inside the display assembly, which means you have to replace the whole display if the BT goes out.

- Not sure about the unibody models, but the old 17" had much better speakers than the 15" MBP of that generation.