honestly everyone is going to tell you their opinion but in the end its YOUR OPINION that matters. I got the 15" because its big enough and I use it everyday and take notes in most of my classes. Plus the 15" fits perfectly in my backpack and if I had the 17 it would probably hit the zipper or something. I love my 15" but ppl can argue that the 17 gives more screen real estate but honestly do you need more real estate than what the 15 gives you and also what are you going to be using this laptop for? 13" is great to take places, 15" is ok but gives the performance, 17" is "too big" *(for me) to take everywhere and has on pair performance. There if you are going to be using it a bunch of different places a smaller form factor might be a good thing. GL and Im sure which ever one you do decide on will be great.
BTW 8GB? wow thats a lot...Im happy with my 4gb (want to get an SSD when third gen of Intel SSDs come out with great space and smaller price my aims is for something above 256 and the least but ideally want around 500 or more)
Even on my 13" I wish I had 8GB of RAM. I do alot on the macbook pro (basically use it as a desktop most of the time with alot of spaces and apps running) so 8GB of RAM would be ideal for me.
As for me, I've sold my 17" i7 2.66GHz model because I noticed that I never take it anywhere around, not even around the house!
It always stays on my desk so I thought I'd sell it and buy the 13" mbp connected to my external monitor and used as a desktop would be fast enough for my uses (and it is).
Originally I was settling with the mac mini but when connecting it to my HDTV, the nvidia 9400m couldnt play all my 1080p mkv files smoothly. Any bluray mkv files bigger than 10GB would play with stutter (not even driving the mini on dual screens either) and the framerate takes a big hit in fast moving scenes). Anyway, I bought the 13" macbook pro to test out its nvidia 320m and it makes a HUGE difference. I just have it connected to my external display and carry the 13" macbook pro to my hdtv to hook it up to watch a movie. It works like a charm, no more framerates dropping either and runs buttery smooth and everything I throw at it.
I never thought that plex player would matter at all between the 9400m and the 320m but it seems that since my hdtv is 52", driving it requires a better gpu and it sure shows it.
I'm very impressed with my 13" macbook pro that I bought for $999 at microcenter! I know the 2.4GHz is slower than the 17" i7 2.66GHz I sold but in everyday use, I cannot tell the difference at all especially the 320m vs. 330m under OSX. I'm sure it'll be a big difference in gaming but so far imo the 13" mbp gives the best bang for buck!
The Nvidia 320m is impressive, it scores a little under the 9600m gt of last generation macbook pros but under OSX it seems to run everything buttery smooth (just like the dedicated gpu of 330m). But here's the kicker, since the nvidia 320m is still an integrated gpu, it hardly ever gets hot or even really warm! I can now use my 13" macbook pro on my lap without using the iLap AND I'm getting 9 and a half hours of battery life while getting the performance of a nvidia 9600m gt card!
When school starts in the fall, I'll be carrying the 13" macbook pro around (and I have before) and it is ideal to lug around the campus for 7+ hours a day.
I've tried lugging around the 17" macbook pro around the campus last semester and while it is a great workout, it was quite tiresome. But the weight isnt what bothered me the most, it was the form factor. The 17" is large in dimension, so it is not very comfortable to take out of your backpack (I even have the brenthaven 17" pro backpack) to use and put back quickly.
