Another one of those "13 or 15 inch" threads

[Tanax]

Okay, so I'm not buying yet but I still want to start looking.
I'm having such a hard time deciding on what I should get when I finally do get a new MBP.

So I'm thinking like this..

1. I want to be able to get the thunderbolt 27" display and hook it up to the MBP(perhaps even multiple displays?). I saw some posts before pointing out that the 13" HD3000 won't be enough to support the massive resolution of the 27" display - is this true? If it is then I have no choice other than getting the 15" with a discrete graphics card.

If it's not true:
2. How portable is the 15"? I'm currently running a 13" MBP and I find it incredably perfect. It's sturdy, not too small but at the same time small enough to be able to bring it with me on lectures. Will I find the 15" clumsy? I guess the best way would be to actually go to an Apple store and check them out to compare but since I'm not buying yet I haven't. I'm lazy

3. Another reason for getting the 15" for the discrete graphics card is for my gaming. I don't play a lot and not really any graphic intense games. Mainly World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2. It would be nice however to be able to max them out. Would it be worth it to get the high-end model with 1GB GPU-memory?

4. If I decide to get a 15", would it be worth it to get the hi-res screen??

I think that's it.
Basically I'm wondering if the 15" would be worth it for the performance-boost it gives over the 13". The 13" is after all 1000$ cheaper(and in Sweden the difference converted to dollars would be the equivalent of 1600$).

 

[JDrive]

I am currently using the 2011 13.3" with a Dell U3011 (2560x1600, higher resolution than 27" ACD) and I have yet to experience interface lag at all. WoW runs smoothly on the laptops native resolution on Fair, but struggles at my monitors native resolution on the minimum video settings. I have a crossfire 6970 PC build for this purpose. I can easily play a 40mbps 1080p video while multi-tasking at 2560x1600 on the 13.3" so I wouldn't worry about the laptop not handling the ACD's native resolution.

I can't comment on the portability of the 15", but only further support your claim of the great portability of the 13.3". If I were to get the 15" I would spring for the resolution increase and the graphics upgrade if you plan to game frequently at the ACD's native resolution. Lots of video ram is important for gaming at resolutions beyond 1920x1200.

 

[Prodo123]

Okay, so I'm not buying yet but I still want to start looking.
I'm having such a hard time deciding on what I should get when I finally do get a new MBP.

So I'm thinking like this..

1. I want to be able to get the thunderbolt 27" display and hook it up to the MBP(perhaps even multiple displays?). I saw some posts before pointing out that the 13" HD3000 won't be enough to support the massive resolution of the 27" display - is this true? If it is then I have no choice other than getting the 15" with a discrete graphics card.

If it's not true:
2. How portable is the 15"? I'm currently running a 13" MBP and I find it incredably perfect. It's sturdy, not too small but at the same time small enough to be able to bring it with me on lectures. Will I find the 15" clumsy? I guess the best way would be to actually go to an Apple store and check them out to compare but since I'm not buying yet I haven't. I'm lazy

3. Another reason for getting the 15" for the discrete graphics card is for my gaming. I don't play a lot and not really any graphic intense games. Mainly World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2. It would be nice however to be able to max them out. Would it be worth it to get the high-end model with 1GB GPU-memory?

4. If I decide to get a 15", would it be worth it to get the hi-res screen??

I think that's it.
Basically I'm wondering if the 15" would be worth it for the performance-boost it gives over the 13". The 13" is after all 1000$ cheaper(and in Sweden the difference converted to dollars would be the equivalent of 1600$).

The 13" does not support multiple monitors, but can handle the Thunderbolt Display well.
The 15" is extremely portable. Sometimes more so than the 13" because the 13" can be too small sometimes.
Gaming? You need a high end 15".
Hi res is a MUST.

 

[Young Spade]

The 13" does not support multiple monitors, but can handle the Thunderbolt Display well.
.

Yes it does.

The AIRS cannot support dual, but the Pros can.


Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs-13inch.html

Good God, at least KNOW what you're talking about before you state something as fact.

 

[Tanax]

I am currently using the 2011 13.3" with a Dell U3011 (2560x1600, higher resolution than 27" ACD) and I have yet to experience interface lag at all. WoW runs smoothly on the laptops native resolution on Fair, but struggles at my monitors native resolution on the minimum video settings. I have a crossfire 6970 PC build for this purpose. I can easily play a 40mbps 1080p video while multi-tasking at 2560x1600 on the 13.3" so I wouldn't worry about the laptop not handling the ACD's native resolution.

I can't comment on the portability of the 15", but only further support your claim of the great portability of the 13.3". If I were to get the 15" I would spring for the resolution increase and the graphics upgrade if you plan to game frequently at the ACD's native resolution. Lots of video ram is important for gaming at resolutions beyond 1920x1200.

The 13" does not support multiple monitors, but can handle the Thunderbolt Display well.
The 15" is extremely portable. Sometimes more so than the 13" because the 13" can be too small sometimes.
Gaming? You need a high end 15".
Hi res is a MUST.

Okay so the 13" does support external monitor of that resolution and can run it smoothly while doing light stuff like browsing the web. If I want to do gaming on external display(with high graphics settings) I would probably need to go for the high-end 15" then with 1GB of graphics-memory.

It is certainly looking like I would have to pick the 15". It's just so much more expensive, gah.

Yes it does.

The AIRS cannot support dual, but the Pros can.


Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs-13inch.html

Good God, at least KNOW what you're talking about before you state something as fact.

Interesting..
Would the 13" support 2 external displays if I "disable" the built-in one(like closing the lid)? That'll be dual display except both displays are external displays.

Is that possible?

 

[Young Spade]

Okay so the 13" does support external monitor of that resolution and can run it smoothly while doing light stuff like browsing the web. If I want to do gaming on external display(with high graphics settings) I would probably need to go for the high-end 15" then with 1GB of graphics-memory.

It is certainly looking like I would have to pick the 15". It's just so much more expensive, gah.



Interesting..
Would the 13" support 2 external displays if I "disable" the built-in one(like closing the lid)? That'll be dual display except both displays are external displays.

Is that possible?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVZI1cFiAw

You're welcome.

 

[swedefish]

Why don't you just get the 13" for your Mac OS purposes and a separate gaming rig that you tuck under the desk for when you want to play games? Surely that would be less expensive and also you wouldn't have to drop all the money at once.

Du borde aven kolla om det finns nagra bra erbjudanden pa refurbished MBPs pa svenska Apple Store.

 

[Prodo123]

Yes it does.

The AIRS cannot support dual, but the Pros can.


Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs-13inch.html

Good God, at least KNOW what you're talking about before you state something as fact.

AH, my mistake. The specs for the 13" Air and Pro are too similar now that I get them confused...

and I know perfectly well what I'm talking about @.@

@OP just get a high-end MacBook Pro with a hi-res screen and 3rd party 8GB RAM. Problem solved.

 

[Adidas Addict]

Why don't you just get the 13" for your Mac OS purposes and a separate gaming rig that you tuck under the desk for when you want to play games? Surely that would be less expensive and also you wouldn't have to drop all the money at once.

Du borde aven kolla om det finns nagra bra erbjudanden pa refurbished MBPs pa svenska Apple Store.

That's the best suggestion. A built up desktop to play the games you speak of at decent settings plus a 13" MBP would be cheaper than a high end 15" MBP.

 

[Tanax]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIVZI1cFiAw

You're welcome.

I had actually already seen that one. Was hoping for a solution more along the lines of daisy chaining 2 thunderbolt displays via the 13" thunderbolt-port. Cheers for the link though!

Why don't you just get the 13" for your Mac OS purposes and a separate gaming rig that you tuck under the desk for when you want to play games? Surely that would be less expensive and also you wouldn't have to drop all the money at once.

Du borde aven kolla om det finns nagra bra erbjudanden pa refurbished MBPs pa svenska Apple Store.

That's the best suggestion. A built up desktop to play the games you speak of at decent settings plus a 13" MBP would be cheaper than a high end 15" MBP.

Problem is that I live at 2 places, both at my moms and my dads. I do have a gaming rig(PC) at my dads but would like to play games while I'm at mom too. The 13" is a hell of a lot cheaper than the 15" high-end, only problem is that gaming on it truly sucks. It wasn't built for gaming and offers no graphics possibilities.

However, I have been looking into external graphics cards. There are some new ones coming out this fall with thunderbolt. Previous ones only connected via USB or ExpressCard, both of which were quite slow but with thunderbolt this external graphics cards solution could actually turn out fairly well. At least tons better than the built-in HD 3000 graphics. It would also be possible to connect more than 1 external display to the 13" hopefully. Only problem is that there are few graphics cards that has Mac drivers to them. Hopefully that gets worked out as the release gets closer.

The good thing is that I'll still be able to carry the 13" around, use it in classes. When I get home to dad, I can game on my PC. When I get home to mom I can plug it into the external graphics card and then into my external monitor and be able to game at moms too

AH, my mistake. The specs for the 13" Air and Pro are too similar now that I get them confused...

and I know perfectly well what I'm talking about @.@

@OP just get a high-end MacBook Pro with a hi-res screen and 3rd party 8GB RAM. Problem solved.

It's not "just". The high-end MBP is still 1600$ more expensive and it's bigger(thus more difficult to carry around) than the 13".

Ultimately I think I will wait a while and see how this external graphics card deal will work out. If it works then I'll definitely go with the 13", not only because of the price but also because of the fact that the 13" size is just so much more comfortable to work with and carry around!

 

[danpass]

the MBP13 is 384mb with 4gb of ram but 512mb with 8gb of ram.

perhaps that difference would be enough for your video needs?

 

[Tanax]

the MBP13 is 384mb with 4gb of ram but 512mb with 8gb of ram.

perhaps that difference would be enough for your video needs?

That is definitely better. The question is if the HD3000 is strong enough even if it has 512mb of vram?

Why don't you just get the 13" for your Mac OS purposes and a separate gaming rig that you tuck under the desk for when you want to play games? Surely that would be less expensive and also you wouldn't have to drop all the money at once.

Du borde aven kolla om det finns nagra bra erbjudanden pa refurbished MBPs pa svenska Apple Store.

Oh oh and I forgot to reply to the last bit.
Svenska Apple Store har ingen refurbished -sektion.. tyvärr. Inte såvitt jag vet i alla fall men bevisa mig gärna fel, skulle vara trevligt ifall den hade det.