Another 13" vs 15" question with a twist

[AlexeyProkhin]

Hi. I fell in love with my friends' macbook and have decided that I simply must have one. I am torn between two models:

1. MacBook Pro 13 Retina MGX82: i5 2.4, 8Gb ram, 256Gb storage.
2. MacBook Pro 15 Retina MGXA2: i7 2.2, 16Gb ram, 256Gb storage.

The macbook will be used for development. I mostly do C++ right now, but I am looking into android development, so this is probably going to change in a near future. The portability is not very important, but still required, every once in a while I spend some time at my parents' and want to take my development machine there. I also have a 24" monitor which, I image, would come very handy to do serious work.
I was going to buy 15 inch model next week because of the screen size and the additional 8Gb of memory. Unfortunately, I am a little bit late and the prices just skyrocketed by 30% (!) due to ruble devaluation basically over night. But I managed to request a delivery of 13 inch model for the old price (~1400$). It is a very good price, considering the model costs 1900$ in russian mac store since, well, yesterday or so. (Tell me about it, the apple products are extremely costly in Russia)
So, once again, I need to answer the question: is it really worth it to pay more for 15 inch model? One of the local resellers can deliver it for ~2100$. This is really a lot for me and I was on the fence about buying it even when it would have cost me 300$ less.

 

[0x100]

Personally I would get the one I could afford, or wait untill the price lowers.

 

[ilikewhey]

if you are not moving it on a day to day basis, get the 15, the extra window space is quite noticeable

 

[Zerka]

Get whatever your budget allows. If you'll only be doing slight travelling, I'd go for the 15" because you'll definitely benefit from the extra screen real estate while developing. I didn't choose the 13" because, while it's easily portable, the screen is too small and I'd rather have i7 qaud-core rather than i5 dual-core.

 

[Meister]

if you are not moving it on a day to day basis, get the 15, the extra window space is quite noticeable

He is using an external screen.

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Get whatever your budget allows. If you'll only be doing slight travelling, I'd go for the 15" because you'll definitely benefit from the extra screen real estate while developing. I didn't choose the 13" because, while it's easily portable, the screen is too small and I'd rather have i7 qaud-core rather than i5 dual-core.

I did choose the 13" because I prefere the portability and I do not need a quadcore.

 

[ABC5S]

Had the 13 inch but sold it for the 15 inch for my eyes mainly. Like the better real estate and I got it for $1,799.00 sale at PeachMac that matched the price from Best Buy. Same system you are looking at.

 

[aoaaron]

15''

For me its a combination of wanting a bigger screen and because I'm paying so much, I'd rather have a quad core laptop with a 16GB of RAM than pay a lot for more modest specs and graphics.

 

[AlexeyProkhin]

Thanks guys for your answers.

I think I will stick to 13" model for my first mac mostly for the price reason. I just could not justify spending 2100$ on a notebook at the moment.

Had the 13 inch but sold it for the 15 inch for my eyes mainly. Like the better real estate and I got it for $1,799.00 sale at PeachMac that matched the price from Best Buy. Same system you are looking at.

Yes, this is a great price. Unfortunately, I just missed my window of opportunity.

For me its a combination of wanting a bigger screen and because I'm paying so much, I'd rather have a quad core laptop with a 16GB of RAM than pay a lot for more modest specs and graphics.

I almost never play. I use my desktop for programming, watching movies, listing to music and browsing. I could use the 16Gb though as one of opensource projects I contribute to requires a lot of memory to compile.

Get whatever your budget allows. If you'll only be doing slight travelling, I'd go for the 15" because you'll definitely benefit from the extra screen real estate while developing. I didn't choose the 13" because, while it's easily portable, the screen is too small and I'd rather have i7 qaud-core rather than i5 dual-core.

Yes, that is exactly my reasons why I consider 15". However, the two addtional cores are not that important for me, because the only heavy task I do is compilation. The ssd speed usually has more impact on it than processor power and the flash drives are great no matter what I choose.

I did choose the 13" because I prefere the portability and I do not need a quadcore.

What do you mainly use it for?

 

[badger91]

My vote is for the 15" inch. I used a 13 for 7 years then got the 15 retina and will never go back.

You just missed a sale at best buy on the 15" base MB pro retina. I bought a 13" on Monday then returned it on Wednesday upon hearing about the sale. I ended up paying roughly $1,479 which was an amazing deal. I saw B&H Photo still has it on sale.

 

[boast]

My vote is for the 15" inch. I used a 13 for 7 years then got the 15 retina and will never go back.

You just missed a sale at best buy on the 15" base MB pro retina. I bought a 13" on Monday then returned it on Wednesday upon hearing about the sale. I ended up paying roughly $1,479 which was an amazing deal. I saw B&H Photo still has it on sale.

Im not sure if BB ships to russia, lol.


Yeah the 15" would of been better, but if you need something now I dont think you would be disappointed with that 13". How does it work over there with returns? Could you try it out for a bit and see if it fits your needs?

 

[AlexeyProkhin]

Im not sure if BB ships to russia, lol.


Yeah the 15" would of been better, but if you need something now I dont think you would be disappointed with that 13". How does it work over there with returns? Could you try it out for a bit and see if it fits your needs?

I doubt I can return it. But I used 13" for a little bit and liked it (not so sure how I would feel if I would have to use it every day)