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Are the 15 inch speakers much better than the 13 inch?

I just bought my first 15" Retina Macbook this week. Since 2008 I was using only regular 13" MacBooks.
The difference between the speakers is like day and night. But keep in mind, they are laptop speakers.
 
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I wouldn't exactly call the Macbook speakers "good speakers" - they are OK for what they are, namely laptop speakers.

If you care about the sound, get external speakers or headphones. If not, then it shouldn't play a role in your purchase decision.
 
Do you like bass? its one thing that is lacking on the 13 model.

I myself would not make a purchase based on the speakers, both a not great, get some headphone :)
 
The 13" retina speakers are much improved over the previous 13 unibody models.

The plastic macbooks from 06-08 are the worst.

You can see that the 15" retina speakers are still much more substantial than the 13" retina though, so they should sound better.
 
I think the 13" and 15" are comprable on the late 2013 MBPr. I think they're pretty decent. I use them often.
 
I've been using my 15" rMBP for a week now and I have to say the 15" speakers are a definite improvement over my 13" unibody. There's actually a soundstage and the sound is a lot clearer and less muffled. Sometimes theres a moment of surround sound that's a nice surprise coming from the under-keyboard mono-sounding speakers.


Doesn't replace headphones or a set of great speakers w/ sub.
 
SVTmaniac said:
And yet they still have a VGA port :rolleyes: 2008 called and wants its laptop back.
Click to expand...

only benefit from removing that is the thinness that the macbook has, for the amount most people use it having an adapter will do. Most other laptops aren't even close to being as thin as a macbook so why not have the added convenience?
 
Does that 4k laptop have better colors than the rMBP?

Does the rMBP 15'' having speaker holes help with the sound in comparison with the rMBP 13''?
 
You get much more bass, the 13" has the audio coming out through the keyboard, although it appears loader the audio is much more tinny/trebly and there is little stereo separation.


Barney
 
galaksy said:
Does that make it much better in quality of sound?
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I'm not an audio expert, but I'm pretty sure having holes doesn't change the sound at all (or very little). The actual drivers would be what changes the sound quality the most. I would assume the holes are for aesthetics, seeing as the 15" has way more space on both sides of the keyboard, so having speaker holes there add to the aesthetics.
 
The difference in speaker quality is vastly overrated from my experience. While the aesthetics and bass are noticebly better on the 15", the actual sound quality is quite mediocre from both. It's much more enjoyable to use external speakers with sub or headphones on either.
 
VanillaCracker said:
I'm not an audio expert, but I'm pretty sure having holes doesn't change the sound at all (or very little). The actual drivers would be what changes the sound quality the most. I would assume the holes are for aesthetics, seeing as the 15" has way more space on both sides of the keyboard, so having speaker holes there add to the aesthetics.
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The 'holes' are very functional.
If you have access to a 15" try playing some music on it and then cover the grilles, the sound difference is like chalk and cheese.

I have both a 13" and a 15" and have compared them side by side.


Barney
 
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