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Buyer remorse switching from 16" to 13"

A

Abaganov

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 30, 2016
375
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I switched from the 16" to 13" and while the 13" is a nice little machine, I do find myself missing the raw power (the 13" is enough for my needs but the 16" felt snappier) the better speakers and above all the extra real estate screen space. the 16" just felt more like a work machine, something to get things done.

I do enjoy the lightness and mobility of the 13" but not feeling it was worth missing all the things I mention above.

Wanted to check with others who made the switch from the 15/16 to the 13" , how was it for you?
 
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I have both. I agree with your comments. I use the 13" in more casual settings. And the 16" when I need the screen real estate and horsepower.
 
I have switched from 15” to 13” and have the same experience, loss of power and screen real estate. I switched back up the next time.
 
I think it depends how mobile you are. If you carry the computer around a lot, then the 13" is the right machine. The 16" is a beast to lug around. If you just want a powerful notebook that stays at home most of the time, the 16" is very good for that.
 
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I went from 15 to 13 two years ago and have never looked back. The 15 is nice, but it’s just too massive if you’re at all on the move with your computer. The 13 works great hooked up to an external monitor, but these days I’m even on it without an external monitor most of the time and it’s terrific. I would never go back to either a 15 or 16, unless they can find a way to get the weight down dramatically. Maybe that’ll happen with the ARM MacBooks in a few years.
 
I made a switch 1 year ago.
First couple of months, i felt myself cramped when staring at 13" display. Because previously i was ready to lug around any 15" device, because i believed that this is bare minimum in my life.
But after 2-3 months you get used to it and then you actually don't even notice the difference (if not compared side-by-side). Now i love how light my 13 inch is and it was very helpful when i had to work on the go (no table, on my lap).
But this is me doing really not hard work: now i am not using heavily for my personal work, so everything is done on a desktop provided by work.
I would say that now my job is "hit and run" - short bursts of video/photo editing, word/excel/pdf 3-6 hours, browsing for leisure(unlimited).
If i were to work more seriously with video/photo or word/excel/pdf then i would go for 16 inch, because you have to really lower the font size when you have 2 windows open side-by-side.
 
As an owner of the 16", I wish I had bought the 13" + eGPU. The 16" has been a "world of hurt" and plagued with issues around external monitors, heat / fans, etc. So much so, that I will never buy another "high end" MBP again.
 
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I have had both the newest 13 inch and 16 inch, for traveling and general mobility I'll take the 13 inch hands down. But if you someone that just takes it from your home to the office and back I would go for the 16 inch. The screen really does make a huge difference in day to day tasks. In terms of speed the 13 inch and 16 inch felt the same, in fact in some places the 13 inch felt much faster, likely due to the speedier RAM.

But if you're like me and connect to an external ultrawide high refresh display, then it doesn't really make a big difference and either will fine.
 
I did switch from my 17” VAIO to 13” MacBook and this was simply amazing for me personally. Obviously, the small screen size was a letdown since I am used to streaming OTT and was struggling to keep up with it for a couple months since the switch. Eventually, I started getting used to the smaller one fairly quickly. I travel a lot so the smaller one made sense and on top of that it is a MacBook, which made my life easy and efficient, from my point of view.

How many of you love MacBook and how many of you are used to the switch fairly quickly? Just shout, Hurrayyyyy!!!!
 
I use primarily a 15”MBP and take my 11”MBA with me when i travel - it’s definitely a pain to have such small real estate (and you really notice the lack of retina!)
 
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My first MBP was a 15". I then was given a 13" MBP by my work and really appreciated the better portability for travel. The 15" just felt huge carrying it through airports or in a backpack or whatever. If I was looking for a laptop that would just stay docked on my desk 24/7 then I would consider a 16".
 
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Going through a similar debate with myself right now. I use a 16 inch MacBook Pro at work - that machine is a beast but also a pain to lug around. The 16 inch is a desktop replacement for me. Not very fun for portability.
 
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I used the 2010 15” for many years until I got a 5K iMac. I got the 2017 15” when I needed to do more mobile office and really disliked it. It felt big and heavy, but graphics performance, screen and keyboard were all terrible compared to the iMac.

I sold it and decided to wait for an updated 12”, thinking if it has to suck at least it can be really small and light. It didn’t get updated, it got cancelled.

I’ve been getting along with an iPad and an a Dell, waiting for something new.

I’m considering the 13” MBP now, but waiting to see what happens on Monday. I know it’s highly unlikely, but if an ARM-based 12” MacBook is announced I’ll order it immediately.
 
Arctic Moose said:
I used the 2010 15” for many years until I got a 5K iMac. I got the 2017 15” when I needed to do more mobile office and really disliked it. It felt big and heavy, but graphics performance, screen and keyboard were all terrible compared to the iMac.

I sold it and decided to wait for an updated 12”, thinking if it has to suck at least it can be really small and light. It didn’t get updated, it got cancelled.

I’ve been getting along with an iPad and an a Dell, waiting for something new.

I’m considering the 13” MBP now, but waiting to see what happens on Monday. I know it’s highly unlikely, but if an ARM-based 12” MacBook is announced I’ll order it immediately.
Click to expand...
Why do you say it’s “highly unlikely”? I’d say it’s the opposite. It’s “highly likely” a 12” ARM MacBook will be announced on Monday. It’s just a matter of when they will let you buy it since, at first, only Apple’s basic apps will be available on it until developers get a chance to write apps for it.
 
iRun26.2 said:
Why do you say it’s “highly unlikely”? I’d say it’s the opposite. It’s “highly likely” a 12” ARM MacBook will be announced on Monday. It’s just a matter of when they will let you buy it since, at first, only Apple’s basic apps will be available on it until developers get a chance to write apps for it.
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I think it is highly likely that the transition will be announced, and possibly the availability of a dev kit in a Mac mini or Apple TV form factor, but there will be no consumer product announcements until they are ready to ship.
 
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A normal beta cycle would give developers 4 months to update for a new OS.

Here I think we are talking about 6 - 9 months before any consumer products are released. And that assumes that the ARM OS and tools are ready for the developers now.
 
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The high-end 13” MBP replaced both my 12.9 iPad Pro and 15” 2018 MBP.

What are you going to do with the dGPU anyway? If you use it, it will be bye bye battery life.

The 13” is an ultraportable laptop and the 16” looks more like something that you keep at home. So I’d say they are not comparable products.

I agree the screen of the 13” MBP is too small if you use it at home, but that is not the purpose of an ultraportable laptop.
 
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randomgeeza said:
OMG, first world problems having to lug around a 15" computer that weights a few Kgs. Really!!!???
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Lol. Exactly.

2019—16-inch MBP weighs 4.3 pounds
2019—15-inch MBP weighs 4.02 pounds
2020—13-inch MBP weighs 3.1 pounds
 
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