New Macbook Pros: 15.4" with LED or 17" with HD resolution?

[sinstoic]

The Macbook Pro 15.4" has LED backlight but only 1440x900 pixels display where as the Macbook Pro 17" has no LED backlight but 1920x1200 pixels display (BTO).

Which has better battery performance?

Which is better according to you?

PS: It doesn't matter what the user does with the system.

 

[GroundLoop]

The Macbook Pro 15.4" has LED backlight but only 1440x900 pixels display where as the Macbook Pro 17" has no LED backlight but 1920x1200 pixels display (BTO).

Which has better battery performance?

Which is better according to you?

PS: It doesn't matter what the user does with the system.

I decided to go the the 17" hi-res with the 250GB HDD. I am an aspiring photographer, so the resolution and the storage were the big selling points for me. I do not play games at all, but I do have a ton of media.

Hickman

 

[eastcoastsurfer]

The Macbook Pro 15.4" has LED backlight but only 1440x900 pixels display where as the Macbook Pro 17" has no LED backlight but 1920x1200 pixels display (BTO).

Which has better battery performance?

Which is better according to you?

PS: It doesn't matter what the user does with the system.

I've been wondering the same thing, but leaning towards the 17" because of the increased resolution. I'm upgrading from a 15" G4 PB, so I'm pretty excited about anything I get

 

[shipdestroyer]

I'd get the 15" because the fluorescent warm-up delay really irks me.

 

[samh004]

The Macbook Pro 15.4" has LED backlight but only 1440x900 pixels display where as the Macbook Pro 17" has no LED backlight but 1920x1200 pixels display (BTO).

Which has better battery performance?

Well the 15" would because it's supposedly using a newer display that should have increased battery life savings, plus the 17" is bigger, so it will of course (marginally) use more power for the whole screen.

 

[sunfast]

I'd go for the 15" because I'd like the LED backlit screen and have no need for a 17" screen / HD resolution

 

[CV4]

depends on your needs.

If you intend on carrying your laptop around with you all the time, 17" might be a little big and annoying.

 

[dartzorichalcos]

It's a hard choice. I like the LED display but the same time I like the HD display too.
If I had to make the choice, I would choose the LED display.

 

[natejohnstone@g]

HD Optical Drive...COME ON APPLE!!

HD res displays are great, no doubt. But what's the big deal really without HD content? I don't just mean on iTunes MS either (though that would be great too), but on the MBP itself.
So when will the MBP have an HD optical drive (BluRay)?? Jobs is on the developer's board for crying out loud!
Check out this new HP that INCLUDES an HD DVD drive:
Price as reviewed $1,769
Processor 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500
Chipset Intel 965
Memory 2GB, 667MHz
Hard drive 200GB 4,200rpm
Graphics Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS
Operating system Vista Home Premium
Dimensions (wide x deep x thick) 14.0 x 10.25 x 1.5 inches
Screen size (diagonal) 15.4 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter 6.3 / 7.3 pounds
Category Mainstream

Now, HD DVD is not as cool as BluRay, granted, but this computer is almost the EXACT same specs as the low end MPB except for a larger (200g) hd and HDMI output...and an HD DVD drive!!
I agree that has the best form factor, etc., and of course i love OS X. But for whose for whom price is still a major deciding factor, how can they choose when for more than $200 LESS they can get such better hardware?
So when is going to add an HD optical drive?

 

[FleurDuMal]

I'm trying to make the same decision too. I actually went to an Apple Store this afternoon and saw the 15" LED display first hand...and it is beautiful. It seems incredibly bright, colour is distributed evenly throughout the screen (no dark corners) and the viewing angle seemed very good. A new 17" was out (they literally brought it out for the first time whilst I was there), but it was glossy screen which I don't really care for so it was difficult to make an accurate comparison. It wasn't the hi-res option either.

However, I'm a hobbyist photographer so the 1920x1200 resolution of the 17" would be marvellous, as would the extra 50GB (I'm sick of external hard drives). But I'm also a bit of a gamer, so the lower native resolution would prove handy as 1920x1200 is a difficult resolution for any GPU to drive. I would get a 15" with an external monitor, but originally my motivation for getting the 1920x1200 17" MBP was so I could get rid of my Dell external monitor, that just seems to take up space in my modestly sized rooms that I end up living in.

Bleh!

 

[dartzorichalcos]

So when is going to add an HD optical drive?

There is a rumor that Apple might add a Blue-ray optical drive to the MacBook Pro next week.

 

[Applenewb]

You guys honestly watch movies on your laptops a lot? The only time I can see myself doing that over a regular TV is if I'm on a plane, and then we are talking about *high def* blueray/HD-DVD on a 15-17" screen really making that flight so much more enjoyable.

I just don't see why you would wait to buy just for a blueray/hd-dvd drive.

 

[roland.g]

The deciding factor should be the form factor. Which size and weight do you want to carry. Forget about LED vs. non and HD vs. non.

 

[FleurDuMal]

You guys honestly watch movies on your laptops a lot? The only time I can see myself doing that over a regular TV is if I'm on a plane, and then we are talking about *high def* blueray/HD-DVD on a 15-17" screen really making that flight so much more enjoyable.

My TV is a tiny little old CRT television that I've had for 10 years. I've also ripped my whole DVD collection onto an external hard drive in order to store all my DVDs at my parents place (when you move around as much as I do, keeping your whole CD and DVD collection with you becomes impractical). So my laptop is the only way I can watch my movies. However, I'm not arsed about HD movies at all. And on a 17" screen, if you're more than a couple of feet away from the screen, you probably can't tell whether its standard def, 720P or 1080P.