2018 13" MBP vs 2017 15" MBP

[BrianJ844]

I am toying with the idea of getting a new MBP and am just doing a bit of homework on them before black Friday / cyber Monday comes around. This leads me to a few questions I hope yall can enlighten me on:

1. I am currently using a non retina 13" MacBook (late 2008 variety) so I have always wanted a 15" for more screen real estate, however, I assume a 13" with retina would feel bigger. Is that a correct assumption? Does anyone have an experience comparing a 13" non retina to a 13" or 15" retina and if so does a 13" retina satisfy you or do you wish you had a 15"? (I do a bit of photography as a hobby so that is why I always feel like I need more screen space).

2. I have been comparing the 15" 2017 with the 13" 2018 (base ish models) and their performance numbers appear about the same (and are leaps and bounds over my 2008) as does their current price. I am obviously leaning toward the 15" but I scared of keyboard issues, mainly a keyboard issue coming up after the 4 year extended warranty is over. Would this cause anyone to lean toward the 2018 13"? I know the third generation keyboard hasn't exactly been proven but the fact that the 2017's are being fixed with the same faulty keyboard has me timid (at least this is my understanding).

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Ma2k5]

I am toying with the idea of getting a new MBP and am just doing a bit of homework on them before black Friday / cyber Monday comes around. This leads me to a few questions I hope yall can enlighten me on:

1. I am currently using a non retina 13" MacBook (late 2008 variety) so I have always wanted a 15" for more screen real estate, however, I assume a 13" with retina would feel bigger. Is that a correct assumption? Does anyone have an experience comparing a 13" non retina to a 13" or 15" retina and if so does a 13" retina satisfy you or do you wish you had a 15"? (I do a bit of photography as a hobby so that is why I always feel like I need more screen space).

2. I have been comparing the 15" 2017 with the 13" 2018 (base ish models) and their performance numbers appear about the same (and are leaps and bounds over my 2008) as does their current price. I am obviously leaning toward the 15" but I scared of keyboard issues, mainly a keyboard issue coming up after the 4 year extended warranty is over. Would this cause anyone to lean toward the 2018 13"? I know the third generation keyboard hasn't exactly been proven but the fact that the 2017's are being fixed with the same faulty keyboard has me timid (at least this is my understanding).

Thanks,
Brian

1. You can get more pixel estate sure due to resolution, I don't know if it will make up for the additional real screen estate that a 15" will provide.

2. So, their is now a membrane but it should be noted as per many discussions on this forum that even the 3rd generation butterfly key's can fail. I would like to think it is less likely with the membrane, but who knows? Maybe the membrane causes some issues that we are not aware of yet (e.g. with double presses).

Performance wise you will be fine, but one other factor is that I believe the battery life on the 13" will be noticably lower than the 15".

Saying all that, I personally wouldn't buy the 2017 rMBP, too expensive for outdated tech - which may seem funny considering it is only a year old but the 2018 upgrade is actually quite significant imo, not just CPU wise but TrueTone, better WiFi/Bluetooth and the T2 chip (barring some KP issues). It also now has DDR4 RAM rather than LPDDR3. On the battery life front, it has been well received too.