Buy 16" or keep 13"?

[badsimian]

So I am having slight buyers regret having recently bought a 13” 2019 MBP in July. I travel a fair bit so convinced myself I should get a 13” model. As I was impatient I got a top spec 2.7/16GB/1TB from the local Apple store with AppleCare.

The machine has been great so far, but for not much more money I could have go the 16” model which is far more capable. It is obviously bigger but then I carried about a 15” 2013 model for years with no issue.

I do find the 13” screen a little cramped at times and also get a bit of RSI when using the keyboard travelling as the smaller deck provides less support to my wrists. My usage these days is a mixture of browsing, documents, bit of VM work, some coding. Although I will be playing Warcraft 3 reforged when it arrives . Equally I could see some major VM work on the horizon, cloud migration testing that sort of thing.

I have a 10% discount available to me for one week. So that is a time factor in deciding whether to sell my current one and take a hit on resale value. The other option is to keep the one I have as I don’t have any pressing problems that need solving. Just I would prefer if keeping a machine for some time to have a non-butterfly keyboard (although as I understand it, there are no widespread reports of the 2019 butterfly having issues right?)

I’m not keen on fan noise myself and get annoyed by the 13” when the fans start up because of rogue javascript etc. I tend to use Turbo boost disabler to combat this. One thing I found with a 2018 15” I tried was it got really hot when connected to an external monitor which I found quite annoying. Not sure how widespread that issue is though, I know it uses the discrete GPU in that case

 

[Steve121178]

If you travel often and the 13" currently meets your needs why do you need to blow a load of cash on a machine that would be horrendous to lug around on your travels?

 

[Nathan King]

I went to an Apple store yesterday to look at the new laptop. I wouldn’t want to travel with it and am sticking with the 13” form factor for that reason alone.

 

[miroki]

I would keep it till next gen 13'' or 14'' update.

 

[badsimian]

I need to see it in person I guess. I didn't think my 15" was that bad but then I did end up getting rid of it. The machine has to also often sit to the side of whatever kit I am using on client site as well. Another point towards something small.

 

[Hankster]

There is a major difference between the old 15" and the new 16". I've had the 13" and currently use the 15". I visited the Apple store and saw the 16" because it does interest me for the screen size, better keyboard and battery life (supposedly). The new 16" is heavy. Even compared to the 15" I can tell it's heavy and it is larger by about 1/2" top and side. So, it's not the same size as the current 15".

I do not travel as much as you, but I would not purchase the new 16" for traveling until you play with it in person. I used the 13" models for 6-7 years and loved it. I think it's the perfect size. But, I need more screen real estate last year so I grabbed the 15". I still prefer the size/weight of the 13".

 

[badsimian]

Yeah I would like the real estate but put off by the weight, size and cost. I do have an iPad, perhaps I should look into sidecar a bit more.

 

[jbachandouris]

The decision is harder for me as my 13" is an early 2015 that I've had for almost 3 years. I don't travel so that's not an issue. The issue is that my 13" runs just fine and I can't really justify $2200+ just to own the latest and greatest.

It's bad enough that I 'bought' the iPhone 11 Pro Max...

 

[badsimian]

Well I popped into an Apple store today and I can't say it has made the task any easier. Yes it is larger especially when you put one on top of the other but the keyboard is much better and the screen spaaaaaaace is massive. I don't think it feels that heavy either....

 

[TechZeke]

If it makes you feel any better, I use my 13" as a glorified occasional chromebook(safaribook?) and had to walk out of best buy yesterday in hurry to keep myself from buying the new 16". I do plan on buying one eventually, but can't justify paying $2400 when I barely use my base model 13". Perhaps when it becomes a refurb or goes on sale.

If you have the money and want that bigger screen, go for it.

 

[jerryk]

Yeah I would like the real estate but put off by the weight, size and cost. I do have an iPad, perhaps I should look into sidecar a bit more.

Sidecar works very well. But is only supported on later iPads. And obviously only on Macs running Catalina. I use it all the time with my iPad Pro 11"