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Going to College: 13" vs 15" (Help!)

I had a 13 inch white macbook for 4 and a half years. (I still have it, but that's what I primarily used).

I just bought a 15 inch Macbook Pro and the size is perfect, IMO. I have to admit I was a bit worried it would be too big but it's actually the perfect size. It even fits in my 13 macbook's carrying case and is lighter than my white Macbook. (Though that is old now.)

I don't know you, but I would find it tough to be disappointed and believe that you chose the wrong one with the 15 inch. It's very portable.

Also keep in mind I believe the 13 inch's speakers are not as good..... (Pretty sure that's right).
 
Size is a problem?

Go for the 15" it's much faster

and if you don't to lug it around in your backpack try getting a Higher Ground Trillium 3 in 1 backpack. It carries your laptop, electronics and peripherals, and has a good sized pocket for carrying your school books =)

it's a little pricey though, but u can check the site to see if it's worth it. And it only fits nothing higher than a 15" notebook.

You can also opt for the cheaper Laptrap, but there's no pocket for books
 
TheAnoyingApple said:
I was in the same situation. I chose the 15" for these reasons:

- It has the new i5 chip.
- Higher resolution screen and size (MUCH more comfortable)
- Not a lot bigger.

ITS IMPORTANT TO SAY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO CARRY IT IN UR BACKPACK SO THERES NO DIFFERENCE IN WEIGHT.

Seriously, buy the 15"... Its much better.

Hope this helps.
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I agree. The extra screen real estate will be well worth it.
 
When I went to school I used a 17. Shortly after I moved to a 13 because I started to travel more. I wish I would have done the 13 sooner.
 
Heavy photoshop, then you'll want the the newer dual core i5/i7s it will last you much longer

I'm with others on not seeing mobile legit quad cores functioning in apple machines (on other threads) for a few more revamps of the machine. I imagine they will be introduced with macbooks are externally redesigned
 
Alright thanks for all the tips guys, i'll be going to the apple store today to take a look at the 13" vs. 15" screen size and sound quality. If anyone has owned both machines, how were your experiences with both the machines?
 
King Apple said:
Alright thanks for all the tips guys, i'll be going to the apple store today to take a look at the 13" vs. 15" screen size and sound quality. If anyone has owned both machines, how were your experiences with both the machines?
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I really wanted the 13" - as I currently have a 14" 4:3 laptop and would like something similar or slightly smaller as I bring the computer with me to work & cafes all the time.

On the other hand I also really wanted matte (rather than the distracting reflections) *and* I found 1024*768 on my current laptop to be too small - even word processing is a drag if you need to arrange pictures etc and the MBP13's 1280*800 resolution is basically the same vertical res - therefore I've gone for a hires matte 15".

I even find webbrowsing tiresome at 1024*768.
 
alust2013 said:
the 15" only has 2 USB ports, it's the 17 that has three. And aside from that, I think the 13" is a better value, honestly. I love mine, and even though the 15 is only a pound heavier, that amount of weight and especially the size can get annoying. I wanted a 15 initially, and I am very happy I got the 13. At most colleges, the desks are unnecessarily small, which makes anything bigger than 13 a pain. Plus you get a 10 hour battery, and the c2d really isn't anything to laugh at. People just like to whine about it. If you need more screen space, get an external monitor with much more screen real estate and decently sized text.
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Your right,the C2D isn't anything to laugh at.
To the OP, the 13" MBP is most likely exactly what you need. Even the base line model. 2.4Ghz and 4GB of ram will do everything you want it to do. I just have a uB MB that's only 2.26Ghz and 2GB of ram. And I do everything you do. I can encode a video in 20 min. while doing other things. :)
(I'm personally drooling over the base line MBP for college.) :)
 
When I was in college a few years back, I had a 12" iBook. In lecture halls, it was much smaller / easier to handle than a 15" machine. Right before I graduated, the 13" macbooks came out and I switched to one of those. I think this is a great size for the classroom. I would rather recommend a 13" macbook with an external monitor at your desk in your apartment / dorm than going w/ the 15" MB. Just my 2 cents.
 
Go for the 2.4 GHz 13" and increase the HDD space to 500 GB on Apple's site. Most of the people in this thread are just spreading FUD about some negligible processor differences that won't affect what you are doing. Trust me, portability and battery life is the most important thing in college. The 13" is the best option.
 
King Apple said:
Alright thanks for all the tips guys, i'll be going to the apple store today to take a look at the 13" vs. 15" screen size and sound quality. If anyone has owned both machines, how were your experiences with both the machines?
Click to expand...

My brother has a 13 inch Macbook Pro (the ones with 9400M, not the new one, but the same size) and it's a very nice little machine. The keyboard is identical to my 15 inch and in general use with Word and surfing it feels pretty much equal. The machine is lighter and smaller too.

Gaming on the built in screen is actually pretty good since it only has a resolution of 1280x800, and the new one is even better. The 15 inch is noticeable faster, especially if you hook up an external screen and start gaming at high resolution.

I always had small laptops, I had 3 PowerBook Duos for those who remember them, and two PowerBook G4 12 inch.
I was actually waiting until the summer 2007 before I bought my first intel MBP, because I waited for a 12 inch machine, because I never ever thought I would carry around a 15 inch MBP. Today, I'm sitting here with a brand new 15 inch MBP and I'm pretty confident I'll replace it with a new 15 inch computer in a few years time.

I'm always biking or walking to work and I carry my MBP with me every day.
 
Typing this from my brand new 13 inch. I love it. As previously mentioned, spaces and simple zoom function allow for perfect viewing of safari, pages, whatever. Grab the 13. You really will love it. I'm a long time mac fanboy, first time buyer, and I couldn't be happier.

Speakers are great! For a notebook, pretty ridiculous. But they don't beat my Sennheiser HD 448's. :)

I've got the 2.66Ghz model with a 500 GB HD, and it's wicked fast. I can open 10-15 applications and switch through them no problem. Not that I need to.

I'm also going to be a student this coming fall, living on campus, and I can say right away that the 13 fits great in my backpack and works nicely in almost any situation.

Grab the 13. You definitely won't be disappointed.
 
Probably going to start a riot, but for some reason to me the 15" MBP is just more I dunno...PRO haha. All the hipster wannabe apple fanboy kids at my school have the 13" as a convenience for size..but I noticed that the serious technology buffs at my school have the 15".

FYI I have a 13" thinkpad x301 for school purposes and a 15" MBP for fun. The 15" is a godsend when I need to view webcasted lectures and a word doc side by side to type up notes. It's hell with spaces or minimizing windows.
 
If playing games is actually important to you then this isnt a decision - you are forced to get the 15". The 330m is MUCH faster than the 320M and you will absolutely notice the difference. Having said that, if you want to game you shouldn't be looking at the Macbooks. Much better gaming laptops can be had for ~$750.
 
Cali3350 said:
If playing games is actually important to you then this isnt a decision - you are forced to get the 15". The 330m is MUCH faster than the 320M and you will absolutely notice the difference. Having said that, if you want to game you shouldn't be looking at the Macbooks. Much better gaming laptops can be had for ~$750.
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Err, the 330m is NOT much faster than the 320m. In fact, some games will likely perform even worse than the 13" if you plan on running the games at native resolution on the 15".
 
aiqw9182 said:
Err, the 330m is NOT much faster than the 320m. In fact, some games will likely perform even worse than the 13" if you plan on running the games at native resolution on the 15".
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Im sorry, thats exceedingly incorrect. Unless your playing games from 2004 and earlier the memory bandwidth will be far too high of a constraint.
 
You need to figure out what you want to use the computer for. The 13" is excellent for almost everything as I've found out by using my girlfriend's almost daily ever since my 15" was stolen.

The only thing missing on the 13" to make it perfect is a higher resolution version. That would make it perfect for coding, programming and some image editing, etc. The size is the perfect size for carrying it out with you and not occupying a lot of space in a class room or in an airplane or coffee shop. Size is pretty much perfect. Almost as perfect as the 12" Powerbook Pro that everyone still can't forget.

Whenever people ask me what laptop to get I tell them: get the screen size you want and most likely than not, the cheapest configuration is ideal for you. I have to do a lot of number crunching and analysis (phd student here) but whenever it is really demanding, I run it on a server/desktop pc. No serious number crunching will ever be done on a laptop. That's just not why you want to get a laptop. So, even the c2d are perfect for 95% of the stuff anyone does on it. You write the code on it, then offload the number crunching somewhere else. i5 vs i7? 12 sec difference on a 5 min job. Does that even matter at all? no.

If you want to seriously play games, don't get a mac. Get a desktop PC. Who wants to play games on a powerful laptop anyway? And they only last 2h on battery. You're better off getting the cheap macbook and then a desktop for gaming.

Unless your major is very specific, the cheapest macbook will get you through college just fine. You then buy another one in 3-4 years. No, it's not shiny and beautiful after 3 years, but it's still there and you can rely on it to write your dissertation.
 
aiqw9182 said:
I'm sorry but you have no actual proof that the 330m is exceedingly better than the 320m in game performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MMohbjWADo
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It has equal shading cores, half the ROP's and a pittance of the memory bandwidth. There is nothing else needed. The OP is buying a laptop he will be using for years to come and I want him to know what he is getting into. The 13" will disappoint from a gaming perspective.
 
Cali3350 said:
It has equal shading cores, half the ROP's and a pittance of the memory bandwidth. There is nothing else needed. The OP is buying a laptop he will be using for years to come and I want him to know what he is getting into. The 13" will disappoint from a gaming perspective.
Click to expand...
Yet it's all going to be running at a lower resolution so the performance difference will be negligible. The OP should know that the 330m in the 512 MB MacBook Pro can't even run BadCompany 2 on native resolution with medium settings yet the 13" can play Arkham Asylum on max settings and max res with 40+ FPS.

And again, you have no actual gaming benchmarks. You are basing this on a couple of specs, the majority of which you don't even know.
 
I'll be upgrading from a lenovo y410 1.66ghz, 1gb ram, Core 2 (I know huge change). But anyway, im leaning to the 13" now that i've read many of your responses. Also, have we figured out if the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M is something to die for over the 320M. All help is once again appreciated.

Thanks guys :)
 
Serious laptop gaming is a joke. If you want a gaming computer, buy a desktop. Now end this pointless argument.
 
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