2016 MacBook Pro 13" vs 15"

My first Mac was a 2008, 15" MBP. It was a great machine, served me well, but carrying it in a messenger bag with a charging brick was a big hassle for me. I traveled with it from time to time, but I hardly can call that 3kg 15" a portable machine.

When Airs, in 2012 became more affordable, with faster SSDs, I decided to go with the 13" Air with upgraded RAM to 8GB. It served me for 4 years now: I'm a software developer, did many projects on it. I thought that the screen would be too small, but with external monitor plugged in, when extra screen space is needed — not a big deal. I got used to it. There are rare cases, when 2012 Air is not capable to stand the load. For example, when you have Atom with some plugins, Chrome running, external monitor is connected and you share screen in Skype call.

Now, I'm going back to a 15" MBP. My 2012 Air weights ~1.3kg, and 2016 15" is ~1.8, if I'm not mistaken. I'm ready for some extra weight, and it's not as big as was in my previous transition. And, as I mentioned before, I've met some performance issues on my Air. That tasks (Skype screen sharing, Atom and some running tasks in Terminal windows) are pretty basic and common, and I plan to do some iOS development and dive into more graphics-intensive stuff, so now I really feel, that performance gain would be useful.

 

Yes. And, after owning a 15", I don't find the 13" screen too small for my office related tasks or for videos and browsing. It may be that I've grown used to smaller screens of the iPhone and iPad or it may be the high quality of the new screens. I'm perfectly happy with the 13" screen. Plus, regardless of weight, I think the 15" has a huge footprint in comparison to the compact 13".

 

Some extra power is needed to drive an external monitor. I'm sure, this is not an issue with the new MBP, but it was quite noticeable on Air for me.

Some extra screen space is quite useful. If you are a web developer, you'll be able to have DevTools fully revealed near the browser window. XCode is much more pleasant to use with this extra inches. I missed my 15" many-many times, doing work on my Air.

The only thing that bothered me in 15" Pros was the weight. Now, when they became lighter, I have no doubts that going back to the bigger screen is the right choice for me.

 

The 13 inch is defiantly very compact. I myself came from the pre-retina unibody machines so my 13 is almost the same width and depth as the current 15 inch and the 15 inch actually weighs less. I ultimately decided that since I'm used to that size I would rather go for much more powerful machine with the added bonus of a bigger screen. Though if it was my first laptop I think the 13 inch and its size would have won me over.

 

I prefer the handling of the 13" tMBP overall, and the difference in screen size doesn't matter much for photography since both are too small.

I use the 13" with an external 4K monitor as needed.

BUT...I think I'll also get the 15" on the next cycle just for fun!



R.

 

So I had 15 2012 and I tried the 2016. They were great machines. Then I tried my wifes 13 I got her and I was over the moon. The 3lb was so light and the compact design is amazing.

I have plenty of power for for all the stuff I do which is also very similar to your use case. The cash I saved on the machine this time around I will buy accessories for the new usb-c revolution. I am going to buy a 5k display instead of having a heavier machine with a larger screen all the time.

I think I will circle back in a few years and get one with touch bar when 16 gigs of ram is cheaper. I had the TB 15 and it was amazing. The issue was I did not need the power or the extra weight on a day to day carry.

The option of spending money on a screen and dock seemed like it would get me much farther than a single machine.

 

Looks like the 13" suits your present needs better, and it's cheaper. If you think you're going to be doing some heavy-duty work in the future, say more specifically what it is if you can, and maybe you can get better advice. You plan on doing IT, developing new software, AI, anything in particular?

For me the extra screen size is great, but that's a subjective preference.

 

What do you want the extra screen size for? Do you watch movies on it, keep different tasks side by side?

 

Take it from another CIS major the 13 is going to do you solid. I am a system admin / Network admin / Security guy

I have to say the largest thing is screen size beyond the 15. I need 27 or more just to keep up with all my tabs and windows.

So it serves me better when I am at my desk to have a 5k LG or the like.

Then when I am out in the field deploying AP I want the light machine so I an not stuck holding up a 4lb thing when I am testing and tunning it up.

So yeah 13.

Trust me I had to go through this very same process. I ended up buying a few laptops and doing real world testing. It took me many tries but I settled on a non-tb 13 16 gig of ram base model.

I will get snagging a display with power soon.

Then I will setup a for mobil and desk

 

I went back and forth on this a few times during the extended holiday return period. Started with a 13 3.3/16/512 which was (and still is) perfect. Each 15 I purchased and returned had major keyboard issues as described in other threads.

I took this as the universe telling me to keep the 13, which I have. I work in IT and it's the perfect size for traveling to satellite offices and home. At my main office, it's docked to a Dell 4K screen. It's very fast for daily IT tasks, remote sessions, monitoring, terminal and lite adobe suite work.

Also, random coincidence, if I hadn't returned one of the 15s exactly when I did one weeknight, I wouldn't have run into the Yankees manager Joe Girardi in the supermarket a few mins later, which was really cool. He was very nice to my 7 year old son.

 

It sounds like you just have the itch to buy something new. Your usage doesn't warrant a 15, and the 13 you currently have is more than enough for you. You also said you utilize the ports on the 2015 model. Of course you are free to buy anything you like, but I'd recommend just waiting till the next generation, then see if you really need an upgrade.

 

if you need the extra gpu power, you should go with the 15" (if you use 2 monitors etc), if not i think its safe to go with the 13"

 

Same question here... upgrade is due very soon! I also do software development on a 13" Late 2013 rMPB, which I love in terms of portability.

But I often run stuff like IntelliJ, several terminal sessions and 1-2 Docker images while at the same time running the basic stuff, Safari with several tabs, Mail, Calendar, iTunes, Evernote, Rocket.Chat, Skype for Business and currently also a Windows 10 VirtualBox, which for itself runs an Oracle database instance, SQLDeveloper, Eclipse and local Tomcat server.

All of that stuff at the same time is way, WAY too much for my 8GB RAM and I think it would be great having quad core CPU. I don't really need the 15" screen, as I am usually hooked up to two 27" screens, but I think the quad core cpu will be the game changer. So I fancy the 15" base model...

 

If the 2015 15" was too big for me, would the 2016 15" be any better? Has anybody had a chance to compare the size of 2016 15" with the 2015 13", how big is the difference now?