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Do you bring your 17" along with you everyday?

J

jiE

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 1, 2007
105
0
Hi all.
I'm on a 15" MBP classic at the moment, and going to upgrade soon.

Debating with myself If I should go 17" next time.
I would very like to hear from someone who bring their 17" to class every day, or work. Just experience with the 17" usage in the everyday as a portable.

Im going to bring it to the university almost every day, and I don't have any problems at all with the 15".

If I were to have the 15" it would be the core one.
And I have the option of having the base 17" for only $ 300 more.
It will give me a lot more screen real space, since I would not upgrade the screen on the 15" to high res.

Help me out please.
 
I sure do. It isn't that much bigger than a 15". That being said, I just ordered at 15" hires from apple store yesterday.
 
I dont find 17" at all difficult to carry around, but I mainly drive. If I was travelling by public transport or on a bike with it daily, it might become annoying. I have taken it on trips abroad with me and used on planes which is ok-ish in economy and perfectly fine in business. A good backpack will help.

I still dont feel 1680x1050 is enough for me as I find large resolutions very easy to get used to and very had to give up. 17" MBP is the single most space-efficient way to get a 17" 1920x1200. Of course it is possible to get Sony Z with the same resolution on 13", and I imagine your opticial will be very happy with that choice.
 
jiE said:
Hi all.
I'm on a 15" MBP classic at the moment, and going to upgrade soon.

Debating with myself If I should go 17" next time.
I would very like to hear from someone who bring their 17" to class every day, or work. Just experience with the 17" usage in the everyday as a portable.

Im going to bring it to the university almost every day, and I don't have any problems at all with the 15".

If I were to have the 15" it would be the core one.
And I have the option of having the base 17" for only $ 300 more.
It will give me a lot more screen real space, since I would not upgrade the screen on the 15" to high res.

Help me out please.
Click to expand...

I had the same questions in my mind. 15" is more portable, alright, but 17" MBP is the most portable 17" laptop on the market. And I've ordered a 17" after seeing that it weighs less than my current 15" Asus.
 
I really want the 15" antiglare, and am so considering buying it, but I love the portability of my 13". The 15" wouldn't seem so bad to bring with me everywhere, but I don't think I'd ever be able to haul a 17" with me cause this is what I would feel like, lol:
 

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I had to lug my 17 around almost every day for 6 months for a programming course. Carrying the laptop around got very old very quick. My programming partner had a 13" MBP... Man, was I envious of its portability. We did most of our coding on it too. Wonderful machine.

I'm picking up a 13" in the next couple days, and keeping the 17" permanently at home attached to a 24" monitor.

Personally, I would not buy a 17" again. I just don't need all that extra screen real state.
 
I was a bit apprehensive about getting the 17" for this very same reason. I do a lot of video work so I decided that the extra screen realestate is worth it - plus being able to view full-raster 1080p video is very important.

I've had it since August and it's been fantastic. I work freelance and it has become my primary fully fledged HD editing/DVD authoring machine. When I bring mine around, it's usually with a few hard drives and stuff, so yeah- it gets heavy. Get a good quality laptop case (I picked a bargain case up from Staples and the strap broke once as I was walking down a large flight of stairs- caught it just in time)

The only real problem I've found is taking it on an airplane- usually, there's simply not enough room to open it fully - forget about setting it on the seat-back tray-table - I have to put it on my lap and still have to view the screen at a 75 degree angle at best.
 
I used my 17" everywhere including coming back from an Afghan Tour. I have always had one for the resolution. I have ordered a 15" Hi Res, however if this does not cut it I will order a 17" again. It survived well out in the heat and cold, of PB's and Iraq. I sold it this week in anticipation of the new MBP's.
 
I used to carry mine on daily basis to customer engagements. I actually started first with the 15" MBP, but the screen resolution was really not up to what I needed it for. The 17" one has been much better that way. The difference in size/weight between the two is not that major, though obviously in tighter quarters (plane) the smaller one would be easier to handle. If you really don't need the full HD resolution, the 15" MBP with its 1680 screen really seems like a great machine.
 
The 17" is only 1 lb heavier than the 15" I don't see how it can be much different carrying around.

The 17" measures 15.47" x 10.51" and the 15" is 14.35" x 9.82 That's a grand difference of 1.12" x 0.69" that's not really that much.

I currently have a 15" and will be buying a 17" and can use the same carrying case day to day and same backpack for longer trips for either one.
 
I'm in the same boat as you. I had a 15" Mac that died around Thanksgiving. I was waiting for the new MBP to come out and was debating going 17". I ended up buying a Win 7 laptop (i5 processor) in a 17" size to see if I could get used to it since I planned on buying a new MBP when they came out. I figured I could rotate the Win box to my wife or kids to use at the house. Anyway, I really got used the 17". I ended up getting a new laptop bag and started carrying less "stuff" around with me to offset the increased weight. I think I'm now lighter than I was with the 15".

As was said previously by another poster it's almost unusable on a plane. If you plan on using it on one, go 15". You can't open the screen all the way.
 
jiE said:
Hi all.
I'm on a 15" MBP classic at the moment, and going to upgrade soon.

Debating with myself If I should go 17" next time.
I would very like to hear from someone who bring their 17" to class every day, or work. Just experience with the 17" usage in the everyday as a portable.
Click to expand...

Back when I was commuting, I did. I kept a power supply for it at home, another at the office, and one in my laptop bag. Just brought it, plugged it in, etcetera.

(And yes, I'd buy a dock if they made one. And no, bookends don't really count, nice though they are.)
 
If you're already used to a 15" then going to 17" isn't all that much of a difference re size and weight.

I've a 17" that I also use on my commute on the London Underground; fortunately I get on/off at stops where I always get a seat! Too big/heavy to use whilst standing though :rolleyes: Also I don't have to walk miles so not a back-breaker.

A friend has a 15" @ 1440x900 and the res is just a terrible waste. If you're using something like Eclipse you need all the screen space you can get - getting as many lines of code on the screen is the name of the game :p

I also do the 2 charger trick, one at home, one at the office...
And if you've using a backpack you might need to upgrade that too!

If you've going to carrying it around a lot I think the hires 15" would be a good compromise though.
 
hi-res 15". omg that phrase was confusing me when you guys said "hires"

lol.

I have no problems carrying large laptops, but prefer a backpack to ashoulder bag.
 
I have to not agree with the 17" owners. The 17" is a beast and is at best a desktop replacement. I have own one and you do not want to carry it around unless you have feeling of insecurity. The 15" is more than big enough if you want to be portable.:eek:

I sold my 17" and went back to the 15" after the "novelty" wore off.
 
Hey all..
Im leaning towards the core 15" with hi res at the moment. Since I dont need the bigger screen.. I have a 42" TV for movies, and the only productive thing I do on the machine is note taking and do law exercise.
Im just thinking..
In Denmark the prices are
13600 DKR for the core 15" high res.
16100 DKR for the core 17".
^including student discount.

It's not that much of a price step, considering the 17" already has a high resolution, faster GPU and CPU and a slightly bigger HDD..

I dont NEED the 17", Im looking for the most bang for the buck as well..

But the 17" does not have the sd card slot. Not that I need it. It just seems that apple dont want to upgrade the case of the 17", and I suspect it might be because that they are planning to do a switch to 16:9 aspect, in the next big update.. probably a year from now. Then I would rather have spent less on an outdated design in the end...
 
jiE said:
Hey all..
Im leaning towards the core 15" with hi res at the moment. Since I dont need the bigger screen.. I have a 42" TV for movies, and the only productive thing I do on the machine is note taking and do law exercise.
Im just thinking..
In Denmark the prices are
13600 DKR for the core 15" high res.
16100 DKR for the core 17".
^including student discount.

It's not that much of a price step, considering the 17" already has a high resolution, faster GPU and CPU and a slightly bigger HDD..

I dont NEED the 17", Im looking for the most bang for the buck as well..

But the 17" does not have the sd card slot. Not that I need it. It just seems that apple dont want to upgrade the case of the 17", and I suspect it might be because that they are planning to do a switch to 16:9 aspect, in the next big update.. probably a year from now. Then I would rather have spent less on an outdated design in the end...
Click to expand...
Well, then you got your answer:
You don't need the higher resolution, so save yourself some money and buy the 15 inch :)!
 
Same boat. I'm not sure what to do.

The only benefit from the 17" now is better speakers, bigger screen and slightly larger resolution.

Resolution was always the buying point for me and I would have snapped up a 17" very quickly but now since the 15" can have the hi-res screen, it makes deciding extremely difficult.

My choice now really is get the 15" i7 + Apple Display or just go for the 17" Macbook Pro (and if I wasnt getting the Apple Display I'd probably go matte too)
 
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