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Vilacr

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 4, 2002
148
15
I'm looking to purchase a new macbook pro for myself( purchased a 13 in. version for my daughter who is in college). Her laptop is darn nice. I'm wondering if it is worth it to purchase the 15" over the 13" at this price point. I have macs and pcs both for work as well as home. I purchased the HP spectre x360 but the touchpad is awful. So it will be returned. The mac will be used mostly for home use to compliment my 2012 mac mini and my fully liquid cooled pc monster I built a few months back. Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
 
I'm looking to purchase a new macbook pro for myself( purchased a 13 in. version for my daughter who is in college). Her laptop is darn nice. I'm wondering if it is worth it to purchase the 15" over the 13" at this price point. I have macs and pcs both for work as well as home. I purchased the HP spectre x360 but the touchpad is awful. So it will be returned. The mac will be used mostly for home use to compliment my 2012 mac mini and my fully liquid cooled pc monster I built a few months back. Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

The 15" is not worth it over the 13" with the new Broadwell processors. The new processors make the value significantly better.
 
I think my title is a bit confusing. Both are $1799 currently at best buy.
 
Do you prefer portability or power? The 15" remains more powerful than the 13", but less portable.

Weight isn't an issue for me (at one point in my life I was a member of the 500lb/800lb benchpress/legpress club. Age has caught up with me now...lol). Im more so looking at bang for my buck.
 
Weight isn't an issue for me (at one point in my life I was a member of the 500lb/800lb benchpress/legpress club. Age has caught up with me now...lol). Im more so looking at bang for my buck.

Bang for your buck go 13" I'm telling you
 
Yes it is in my opinion, and I just returned my new 13" to take advantage of a great deal on the 15".

It's just simply a much more powerful and useful machine, and in my opinion the display is slightly better in terms of image quality. The 13" has a strange slightly iridescent quality to the screen that I didn't like.
 
I think my title is a bit confusing. Both are $1799 currently at best buy.

If its just for basic use, get the 13. If you are doing photo or video work, get the 15 with the quad core. I found this out the hard way.
 
I'm looking to purchase a new macbook pro for myself( purchased a 13 in. version for my daughter who is in college). Her laptop is darn nice. I'm wondering if it is worth it to purchase the 15" over the 13" at this price point. I have macs and pcs both for work as well as home. I purchased the HP spectre x360 but the touchpad is awful. So it will be returned. The mac will be used mostly for home use to compliment my 2012 mac mini and my fully liquid cooled pc monster I built a few months back. Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Go on ahead and get that 15" Althought be warned it'll drop in price even further probably pretty soon as an upgrade is imminent (few months)
 
I think my title is a bit confusing. Both are $1799 currently at best buy.

If you don't travel, the smaller lighter 13" is not going to pay off. The 15" is faster, louder speakers and has much more screen real estate. I tried the 2012 version and loved it. After one flight (does not fit on todays tray tables) I went with the 13". The 15" is not for road warriors.
 
15" is still far more powerful than the 13", even with the update. I'd go for the 15".
 
The 15" is not worth it over the 13" with the new Broadwell processors. The new processors make the value significantly better.

Really?! Unless the new trackpad and extra 1 hour battery life is super important for you, the 2015 is barely faster than the 2014 in day to day use. OTOH, the rMBP 15 is still almost twice as fast as the rMBP 13 as the multi core performance is still much better. (Single core isn't much faster either)
 
Really?! Unless the new trackpad and extra 1 hour battery life is super important for you, the 2015 is barely faster than the 2014 in day to day use. OTOH, the rMBP 15 is still almost twice as fast as the rMBP 13 as the multi core performance is still much better. (Single core isn't much faster either)

Both devices are still extremely fast. I would say go for 13 if you are not doing serious hard cord graphic or video editing or heavy game playing. I am sure the new force touch trackpad will become useful for everyday usuage. Software updates will include more things to use with it. But mainly it's the portability aspect that trumps everything. If you want to purchase now I would still again say the 13 because in a new months price will drop and money will be wasted on the 15.
 
I like to screen real-estate on the 15" but the update to the 13" is also enticing. Portability has no bearing for me....decisions...decisions.
 
Get the 15", for me the pro of 13" is :
- Force touch with haptic feedback, don't know if its useful
- Faster SSD to an already fast SSD in the 15"
- Portability



That's it I think.
 
I like to screen real-estate on the 15" but the update to the 13" is also enticing. Portability has no bearing for me....decisions...decisions.

I just found an awesome deal this afternoon on Craigslist for the mid 2014 base model rMBP 15. Took my rMBP 13 back to Best buy. I only paid an extra $132 for the 15. I ran tests with the two of them. The 15 is still faster despite older technology, a lot faster actually. The Force Touch trackpad was kinda cool but in no way worth choosing the 13 over the 15 for.
 
Really?! Unless the new trackpad and extra 1 hour battery life is super important for you, the 2015 is barely faster than the 2014 in day to day use. OTOH, the rMBP 15 is still almost twice as fast as the rMBP 13 as the multi core performance is still much better. (Single core isn't much faster either)

This! I think they put the slightly faster SSD in the updated 13" Pro, just like the upcoming shiny new MacBooks, but unless these small pluses are important to you, Iʻd pick up a great deal on a 15". The screen size is awesome and the built in speakers are not too shabby. Best computer Iʻve ever had. So far...lol..

Ultimately, to each their own. Everyone has their favorite. :)
 
This! I think they put the slightly faster SSD in the updated 13" Pro, just like the upcoming shiny new MacBooks, but unless these small pluses are important to you, Id pick up a great deal on a 15". The screen size is awesome and the built in speakers are not too shabby. Best computer Ive ever had. So far...lol..



Ultimately, to each their own. Everyone has their favorite. :)


Didn't the 15" already have 4-lane SSD? That was the improvement on 13": was 2-lane bus for the 128/256 and they bumped it. 512 was always 4-lane.
 
I'm looking to purchase a new macbook pro for myself( purchased a 13 in. version for my daughter who is in college). Her laptop is darn nice. I'm wondering if it is worth it to purchase the 15" over the 13" at this price point. I have macs and pcs both for work as well as home. I purchased the HP spectre x360 but the touchpad is awful. So it will be returned. The mac will be used mostly for home use to compliment my 2012 mac mini and my fully liquid cooled pc monster I built a few months back. Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

At that price, I'd snap up the 15", no question.

I recently bought a refurbished one from online Apple Store, and they're a very very nice machine.
 
Definitely get the 15" over the 13" if you don't need the smaller footprint.

However...look for open boxed at best buy, and do the movers coupon/education discount if you can.

With those, I managed to trade in my 13" 2014 rMBP and walk out with a 2014 15" for a total of $1,440.

Coming from the 13" - it is definitely a step up. I was going to get the 2015 13" initially, but this was actually cheaper with the discounts!
 
Definitely get the 15" rMBP, you won't regret it! It's an awesome machine and the bigger screen will definitely compensate for the money spent. I'm grateful for having gotten the 15" - great for watching movies on Netflix, etc. You'll definitely enjoy it. It's super fast, too!
 
I'm headed to best buy to checkout both MacBooks. I'm leaning towards the 15" though the 13" is very tempting.
 
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