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Help me choose: 13 or 15-inch MBP?

Alameda

Alameda

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 22, 2012
1,349
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I've been using my personal 2015 13" MBP as my company laptop for about three years now. The laptop I have is a 2.7 GHz i5, 8GB RAM and a 1TB OWC flash drive.

Recently, I've had some IT issues and the IT Department wants me to use a company-provided laptop with 16 GB of RAM so that I can use VMWare and Windows to access certain Company network resources when needed. New laptop! Cool beans! Price is no issue, within reason.

I went to the Apple Store to look at them, and I think I like the 15" model more. The thing about the 13" which I really hate is the lack of HDMI and none of my chargers will work. I use my laptop in conference rooms all the time, and I hated it when I had the MacBook Air and I'd forget to bring the dongle or the dongle would break. I have a Thunderbolt dock at work and it works fine...

Assuming I use the same processor/RAM combo, Is the performance of the 13" noticeably better than the 15"? I also compared the screens side-by-side, and I could see the color benefit of the 13". I'm a serious amateur photographer, and that would be nice... but so is viewing my photos at 15" and higher resolution. Oh... and I travel. I carry the laptop to work and back daily, into business meetings, and I travel overseas pretty often.

Performance matters because, for my personal use, I run Photoshop and a RAW editor and converting RAW to JPEG is a slow process with my 2.7 GHz i5.

Very Grateful for all opinions and feedback. Thank you!
 
Alameda said:
The thing about the 13" which I really hate is the lack of HDMI and none of my chargers will work
Click to expand...
So I am assuming you are looking at an 2015 15" vs a 2017 13"?

Posting the specs of the machines would be a great help.
But even through the 2015 15" runs an older CPU it is still an i7 which should offer more performance than the 2017 13" i5, especially if you go from the 2.2GHz clock to a higher clock

Edit: for an easy dongle solution if you go with a 2017 model I can recommend Satechi which have made some nice once. I have this model https://www.amazon.com/Satechi-Alum...=1531172276&sr=8-5&keywords=satechi+usb+c+hub and it works great for my need with HDMI and USB A in one unit. they also have some with ethernet, cardreader and other ports.
 
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Schranke said:
Posting the specs of the machines would be a great help.
Click to expand...
I was assuming I'll get the same CPU in either event, with 16 GB RAM and 500GB storage.

I really dread the idea of buying these breakable $50 dongles.
 
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If you love oversized trackpads and have NBA Center fingers, get the 15”
And a Bluetooth keyboard.
 
As Schranke said, it's not clear what you are comparing, since the 15" MacBook Pro 2017 doesn't have an HDMI port (all USB-C)... ?
 
Expobill said:
Some Apple stores are selling the recent one with that port, some
Click to expand...
You mean the 2015 15" (which Apple still sells new). There are no 2017 15" with HDMI port. Very different laptops to be comparing. It sounds like he is comparing the 2017 13" and the 2015 15", but not clear.
 
poorcody said:
As Schranke said, it's not clear what you are comparing, since the 15" MacBook Pro 2017 doesn't have an HDMI port (all USB-C)... ?
Click to expand...
Oh. I went to the Apple Store today, and the salesperson showed me a 13" that's new and has the touchbar, and also a 15" which is not the new body style, but the same as my 2015 13". She said the 15" hasn't been redesigned with USB Type-C only ports yet. I guess the "Genius" was mistaken?
 
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Alameda said:
Oh. I went to the Apple Store today, and the salesperson showed me a 13" that's new and has the touchbar, and also a 15" which is not the new body style, but the same as my 2015 13". She said the 15" hasn't been redesigned with USB Type-C only ports yet. I guess the "Genius" was mistaken?
Click to expand...

you can check this out on the apple web site - the 15" is still available - i7 / 16 g / 250g ssd- but no touch bar

great deal - still has the older style key board and multiple ports - 2 usb / HDMI / thunderbolt and headphone / mic port

great deal - just helped a friend buy one brand new at Best Buy
 
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Alameda said:
She said the 15" hasn't been redesigned with USB Type-C only ports yet. I guess the "Genius" was mistaken?
Click to expand...
An Apple Store person told you that? Very mistaken.

Yes, the 15" was redesigned in 2016 along with the 13" (and refreshed in 2017). Apple still sells the 2015 version of the 15". You probably should look over the choices on the Apple website:

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/15-inch
 
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I know you said price is no issue but please realize that the 2015 15" selling at $2k in 2018 is a scam. I know they removed ports from the 2017 and it's a shame that a 3 year old laptop is better in so many ways to the current models but just look on ebay, you can find comparable Windows machine for about $800 now...

It seems that by removing ports and changing the keyboard Apple has managed to make the 2015 model artificially keep its value for way too long.
 
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Alameda said:
really dread the idea of buying these breakable $50 dongles.
Click to expand...
I have actually found that the quality of this dongle is quite high, if you were to break it you are mistreating your equipment and your Mac won't be long for this world.

Alameda said:
Oh. I went to the Apple Store today, and the salesperson showed me a 13" that's new and has the touchbar, and also a 15" which is not the new body style, but the same as my 2015 13". She said the 15" hasn't been redesigned with USB Type-C only ports yet. I guess the "Genius" was mistaken?
Click to expand...
Wow that is some misinformed "Genius" or there might have been a misunderstanding... anyway

Alameda said:
was assuming I'll get the same CPU in either event, with 16 GB RAM and 500GB storage.
Click to expand...
okay this leave us with 3 options, you can get the 2015 15", a 2017 13", or a 2017 15", RAM and SSD size will be the same for all units.

The 2017 13" is limited to a dual core i7 at 3.5GHz as a BTO option, coming in at $2.5K
Here is the performance 4607 single core, 9554 multicore (https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/416)

The 2015 15" is quad core I7 starting at 2.2GHZ ($2.2K) with two +0.3GHz increasing options.
Here is the performance 3773 single core, 12912 multicore (https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/383) and for the highest configurable option 4356 single core, 14453 multicore (https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/398)

The 2017 15" is also all quad core i7, but since there is 2 models, one with radeon pro 555 2GB at 2.8GHz ($2.6K) and one with Radeon pro 560 4GB at 2.9GHz ($2.8K) your need for dedicated graphic will dictate the cpu, keep in mind the difference is minimal. EDIT: both can be upgraded to 3.1GHz
2.8GHz - 4343 single core, 14376 multicore (https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/417)
2.9GHz - 4479 single core, 15254 multicore (https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/418)

Keep in mind that the 13" and the 2015 model is only using integrated graphic

Alameda said:
Recently, I've had some IT issues and the IT Department wants me to use a company-provided laptop with 16 GB of RAM so that I can use VMWare and Windows to access certain Company network resources when needed.
Click to expand...
With this in mind I would go for a quad-core CPU as it sounds like you will have multiple programs running at the same time along with using a virtual machine.

Alameda said:
Performance matters because, for my personal use, I run Photoshop and a RAW editor and converting RAW to JPEG is a slow process with my 2.7 GHz i5.
Click to expand...
Since it sounds like you do photography you will benefit from a machine with dedicated graphic

Hope this helped a little
 
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poorcody said:
You mean the 2015 15" (which Apple still sells new). There are no 2017 15" with HDMI port. Very different laptops to be comparing. It sounds like he is comparing the 2017 13" and the 2015 15", but not clear.
Click to expand...
Where does it sell the 2015 model new?
 
Portability- 13”
Performance - 15” Also higher resolution and more real estate on the desktop. I would wait for a refresh to get extra cores for the same price. Not worth buying a MBP right now.
 
lec0rsaire said:
Portability- 13”
Performance - 15” Also higher resolution and more real estate on the desktop. I would wait for a refresh to get extra cores for the same price. Not worth buying a MBP right now.
Click to expand...
Coincidentally, the 2018 models were just announced, so I’ll make sure to get one of those. I appreciate everyone’s advice very, very much.
 
Here’s the update...
Three weeks later, and Accounting finally approved it. :rolleyes:
I requested the new model, with four thunderbolt ports, 16 GB or RAM and 1 TB of storage. I’m still VERY miffed at the stupid USB Type-C only connectivity, but I should have the thing in another week or so, I hope.
 
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13" all the way for me. Portability all the way. I also have a 27" iMac so if I need more screen real estate I will just use that.
 
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Alameda said:
Here’s the update...
Three weeks later, and Accounting finally approved it. :rolleyes:
I requested the new model, with four thunderbolt ports, 16 GB or RAM and 1 TB of storage. I’m still VERY miffed at the stupid USB Type-C only connectivity, but I should have the thing in another week or so, I hope.
Click to expand...

What size did you end up going with? 13 or 15”?
 
Alameda said:
I’m still VERY miffed at the stupid USB Type-C only connectivity
Click to expand...
Well, you only need dongles for things that have connectors that are soldered on (like many mice with no detachable cord, usb thumbdrives and so on); basically anything with a detachable cord you can just get a cable with the appropriate connectors in either end.

Also, seeing as USB-C will be the future, more and more stuff will simply be USB-C natively from the outset, so there's that to consider as well. It will take a few years, and then we'll be wondering what the BFD was. ...hopefully ;)
 
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