I will be on the "road" most of the time but meaning that I will be in coffeeshops, coworking spaces and related. And since I will be mostly designing/coding on scaled mode, after you said that the 13" is a bit laggy, I think that the 15" is what I should buy.
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Advice on rMBP 13" vs rMBP 15"
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I will be on the "road" most of the time but meaning that I will be in coffeeshops, coworking spaces and related. And since I will be mostly designing/coding on scaled mode, after you said that the 13" is a bit laggy, I think that the 15" is what I should buy.
I can't say as much for the 15" but if you're going to scale up to 1900x1200, I'd definitely go with the dGPU model and not the base model 15".
Are you saying this for the laggy-issue? Yesterday I tried a 15" rMBP (without dGPU) at the Apple Store with the scaled 1900x1200 and was pretty good.
Anyway, if I will buy the dGPU model and I will be using it with the 1900x1200 mode, it will always use the discrete graphics card? That's bad for battery.
I'm sort of having the same dilemma right now. I'm in college about to start programming classes next semester our the semester after that. I know I'm waiting for the next model of the rMBP that'll hopefully be out in the spring. I've heard programming on larger screens is a bit easier on the eyes. Currently I have an early 2011 15" MacBook pro that's basically on its way out because of a faulty gpu and used up battery but I'm thinking of upgrading it with an ssd and 8GB of ram for the time being. I don't know what size to get and if I were to get the 15", would a dgpu be necessary? My major is computer science and engineering, if that helps. Sorry for hijacking this thread, didn't see the point of making a new one for the same subject.
I had a 15inch rmbp and traded down do 13inch. At home, it's always hooked to a 27inch monitor and it's much more convenient to use the 13inch on the run. I like to get away from my home/office and do work in the public once in a while so a smaller footprint/weight laptop was a better choice for me.
For my work, usually dealing with emailing/researching web/writing/spreadsheet the 13inch is plenty of power.
For my work, usually dealing with emailing/researching web/writing/spreadsheet the 13inch is plenty of power.
Thanks for your experience. The difference is that it will be my main laptop when I will be traveling, hence I won't have the possibility to hook it to a 27".
That's a dilemma! But maybe I should get the 15".
I'm a full-stack web consultant (Rails/AngularJS/React).
Started this journey w/ an 11" MBA 3 years ago to take on my first Rails project. My previous setup had me working on .NET software w/ 3 displays (2 24" and 1 21") and I wanted to see if I could survive with much less.
After being with the 11" for a year, took a job for another year where they insisted on a maxxed a 15" rMBP. I dug the machine... fast, tons of screen real estate at the max res, but to be honest, it was just ergonomically lacking in too many situations (would get hot on the bottom, somewhat unwieldy in my lap, difficult to carry in one hand to show someone something). Plus while the battery life wasn't terrible, it would routinely last ~6 hrs, so not really an all day machine without outlets in the vicinity.
Now I'm back to being a consultant I decided to go w/ a 13" - I literally had a new 15" in the box ready to go, but decided to test out Apple's liberal return policy on a 13" as an experiment. It hits that sweet spot for me. Rendering on the screen is a bit laggy at times, but not in any way that impacts my work. The loss of screen real estate is just a minor issue - I didn't really *need* 1920 x 1200. The overall speed of the machine is hardly perceptible for what I do. And the battery life... seems on average I'm probably pulling in an extra couple hours, which is huge. I can go without charger for an entire day, work in situations without a table to put it on for an extended period of time, and have it fit much better on a cramped cafe table. It's a far superior experience for me and there's no way I'd go back... not sure how I'd feel if I were doing graphics work though.
Started this journey w/ an 11" MBA 3 years ago to take on my first Rails project. My previous setup had me working on .NET software w/ 3 displays (2 24" and 1 21") and I wanted to see if I could survive with much less.
After being with the 11" for a year, took a job for another year where they insisted on a maxxed a 15" rMBP. I dug the machine... fast, tons of screen real estate at the max res, but to be honest, it was just ergonomically lacking in too many situations (would get hot on the bottom, somewhat unwieldy in my lap, difficult to carry in one hand to show someone something). Plus while the battery life wasn't terrible, it would routinely last ~6 hrs, so not really an all day machine without outlets in the vicinity.
Now I'm back to being a consultant I decided to go w/ a 13" - I literally had a new 15" in the box ready to go, but decided to test out Apple's liberal return policy on a 13" as an experiment. It hits that sweet spot for me. Rendering on the screen is a bit laggy at times, but not in any way that impacts my work. The loss of screen real estate is just a minor issue - I didn't really *need* 1920 x 1200. The overall speed of the machine is hardly perceptible for what I do. And the battery life... seems on average I'm probably pulling in an extra couple hours, which is huge. I can go without charger for an entire day, work in situations without a table to put it on for an extended period of time, and have it fit much better on a cramped cafe table. It's a far superior experience for me and there's no way I'd go back... not sure how I'd feel if I were doing graphics work though.
Just got my 15" MBP today. I am blown away by how easy it is on my 51 year old eyes. My two sons have 13" retina models and while I do love them I find myself squinting a little. I didn't notice this until after using/reading the 15" retina for several hours. Then the light went on - no eye fatigue whatsoever!
This plus the weight difference is very negligible. I think I made a great decision (for me). I do admit that carrying around the 13" is a bit nicer tho.
This plus the weight difference is very negligible. I think I made a great decision (for me). I do admit that carrying around the 13" is a bit nicer tho.
I went from a 13" 2010 MBA to a 15" 2014 MBP refurb.... retina is well worth it for me, and the 15" has a lot of screen space to do spreadsheets.... I see the 15" as more of a workstation to be used the majority of the time at a desk (library, home, etc), whereas the 13" is more suitable for the road warrior who's always on the road. Happy with the 15".
Same here. I just upgraded my recent 13 inch MacBook Pro retina mid 2014 because of my aging eyes, got the 15 inch today, and glad I did. Eyes are better but will decide when more time passes.
I'm a 13" rMBP owner who thinks you'll be happier with the 15". The 13" is great but I do wish I had a larger screen sometimes and the 15" rMBP is so light now.
Really? Which are the times where you wish you had a 15"?
The 15" should be 0.5kg heavier than the 13" now.
It's mainly when I'm using more than one application at a time in windows. Also, when I use large spreadsheets.