After two returns I'm still undecided

[andrewtm]

I bought the 13 inch MBP w/ TB 8GB about a month ago. I thought that due to my usage, (experimenting with Maya/3D programs, photoshop, etc.) I would benefit from the 15.

The 15 was incredible, the battery life was great, the screen was amazing, it was super fast, but it was just kind of big.

I returned the 15 and got the 13" w/ 16GB RAM which is what I have now.

Now I'm having a dilemma. I know the 15 inch comes with dGPU, quadcore, and obviously the bigger screen. I paid about $2000 for this one with the upgraded RAM. It's hard for me to justify paying so much for a 13 inch when the 15 inch is only $200 more (with student discount). What do you guys think? Clearly I'm indecisive and can use any input you guys have.

Thanks!

 

[LarryJoe33]

Well, I have had an internal debate for the last few months on what I would do for the next MBP. Today I was at the Apple Store and really kicked the tires on both the 13 and 15 and I think the 15 is just too damn big. Screen, real estate, power aside, the large form factor outweighs these things for me. I am sitting flat on my couch as I type this with my 13 propped up and I know I won't be able to do this with a 15.

 

[andrewtm]

Well, I have had an internal debate for the last few months on what I would do for the next MBP. Today I was at the Apple Store and really kicked the tires on both the 13 and 15 and I think the 15 is just too damn big. Screen, real estate, power aside, the large form factor outweighs these things for me. I am sitting flat on my couch as I type this with my 13 propped up and I know I won't be able to do this with a 15.

Yeah I think it's pretty big too. I love the 13 but it's just hard to justify how much little more I need to spend to get an all around better computer that will presumably last longer. Ideally a 14" would be the best but I feel like Apple won't ever go that route.

 

[Patcell]

As the last poster pointed out, this decision (given how close in price they are) really comes down to how important portability (versus performance) is for your use case. Personally, I went with the 15" this year, but mostly because I was coming from a 2014 15" so the new design was much more portable than my previous machine. Also, I benefit from the quad-core CPU and dedicated GPU. Would your work benefit from these components? It is amazing how close in price they are after upgrading the RAM in the 13"...

So, again, the question is... how important is the portability factor for you personally? Worth the sacrifice in overall performance? (Do keep in mind though that the performance gains afforded by the 15" model are not noticeable in day-to-day tasks).

 

[BearDownAZ]

I'm on the same boat! I bought the 15" a couple of weeks ago and I still think I'm within my return window. Everything about it is great except for the size. The only reason I went with the 15" over the 13" was the battery life.

Can you share your battery life experience? How does the 16 GB 13" model last compared to the 15" model? Does it have noticeably shorter life?

 

[green86]

I love the 15" size. I just bought 13" yesterday, and I would've loved to get the 15" if I could. My first laptop was an iBook 12" which was ok, but it wasn't until I bought a 15" PowerBook in 2004 that I actually loved a machine. That thing s was amazing. The 15" screen is just so versatile esp. if your like me and have a ton of things open at once. If you could afford it, go with the 15" screen.

I'm also going to voice an opinion that I think might be unpopular, but I work a lot with these machines. Although 16 GB of ram is a must for power users (seemingly), the 3 GB a second transfer speed of the SSD kinda negates the need for more ram for most people. Of course there are legitimate cases for more ram but if your using 8 GB with, say, a lot of programs that aren't necessarily heavy resource users on there own, but when added up take up a lot of space, (i.e. users that have 50+ tabs open at once) the swap is just so fast on these machines that they don't really slow down.

A moot point if you end up with the 15 since 16 is standard, but if you wanted to save some money you could return your CTO 13" 16 GB of Ram. Then you wouldn't be so close to the 15" price. Just a thought.