I bought a 15" this time last year for my senior year of school. I then spent the rest of the year wishing it was a 13".
Smaller the better.
Smaller the better.
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I need MBP for school. 15 or 17?
- Thread starter george.dye
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The arguments for and against seem rather uniform but slightly biased. Everyone with the 15" seems happy with the portability, and everyone with the 17" seems happy with portability. I live literally 100 yards from the design building, so the distance is not too great. I feel that the 17" is portable being only, what I consider, slightly larger than the 15" in overall dimension and weight.
Side note- Can the MBP monitor be calibrated to a necessary degree of professionalism. I have worked in a print shop before, and I loved the technical aspects of the art. But I wonder is a second display necessary for proper color calibration.
Side note- Can the MBP monitor be calibrated to a necessary degree of professionalism. I have worked in a print shop before, and I loved the technical aspects of the art. But I wonder is a second display necessary for proper color calibration.
It's glossy, no way that you will get accurate colours. You will need a matte screen (Available on the 17'' as an option for 50$) or an external matte display. It MIGHT become an option for the 15'', but I wouldn't count on that, Apple prefer that you spend your hard-earned money on the 17''.
I am on architecture course. Slightly different from you but still have do some graphics. I am waiting for my 17 matte screen.
Get the 15"! You will NOT like lugging around the 17" from class to class and setting it on your desk. The 17" is a portable desktop/workstation, I have one and it's great, but it is not practical to carry around all day and constantly take it out of your bag to use (as you would in a school setting). I took it to a week long conference and after the first day I just left it in the car because it was a pain (literally and figuratively! one of the reasons I got an iPhone, why lug around a 17" laptop to browse the web at a conference? lol)
Throughout college I used 15" Powerbooks and never had a problem. They were ideal. Good screen size, but not too big that I ever really noticed it. The 17" is bigger, heavier, you'll need a bigger bag....trust me, you'll get tired of it quick.
If you were in an office/lab all day then went home, then the 17" is ok. But going from class to class all over campus...no way. I travel with mine all the time but it never gets out of the bag while I'm at the airport, it's too inconvenient. I wait until I'm at my destination.
Throughout college I used 15" Powerbooks and never had a problem. They were ideal. Good screen size, but not too big that I ever really noticed it. The 17" is bigger, heavier, you'll need a bigger bag....trust me, you'll get tired of it quick.
If you were in an office/lab all day then went home, then the 17" is ok. But going from class to class all over campus...no way. I travel with mine all the time but it never gets out of the bag while I'm at the airport, it's too inconvenient. I wait until I'm at my destination.
If you can get away with it for what you're going to school for, go with the smallest size possible.
The reason that I say this is because college desks are an embarrassment to desks everywhere.
Its pathetic the amount of surface you have to work on when your courseload is larger than its ever been in your life
(isnt it interesting that as you get older and have more work to do in school, your desk size shrinks? My kingdom for the same size desk as i had in kindergarten!!! LOL)
Anyway, its going to be tricky juggling a larger laptop on the smaller desks as you have a book open in your lap--creates a LARGE margin for oopsie-daisies!
(trust me
)
The reason that I say this is because college desks are an embarrassment to desks everywhere.
Its pathetic the amount of surface you have to work on when your courseload is larger than its ever been in your life
(isnt it interesting that as you get older and have more work to do in school, your desk size shrinks? My kingdom for the same size desk as i had in kindergarten!!! LOL)
Anyway, its going to be tricky juggling a larger laptop on the smaller desks as you have a book open in your lap--creates a LARGE margin for oopsie-daisies!
(trust me
)
If you look at all the replies, the ones with the 15" will urge you to go with the 15 and the ones with the 17" will urge you to go with the 17. You just have to go into the store and take a look for yourself. If you're constantly lugging it around, carrying it will get tired. I don't think too many people who spent a lot of money are going to say they made a mistake should've bought the 15, so since they own it, of course they're going to play up the its only a couple of pounds heavier.
In the end, only you can decide since other people's experience won't be your own. I used to carry a 17" and the real estate was great, but it wasn't my only laptop and after a couple of months, the novelty and newness worn off and I wish I had gone with a more portable one. My experience only though.
In the end, only you can decide since other people's experience won't be your own. I used to carry a 17" and the real estate was great, but it wasn't my only laptop and after a couple of months, the novelty and newness worn off and I wish I had gone with a more portable one. My experience only though.
I think the real deciding factor in size is what program you are majoring in. A lot of people on this thread that are saying to get the 15" are probably not in graphic design programs. They spend a lot of time in lecture halls sitting in small desks with little room for a laptop. They might also have to do a lot of walking around with books in a backpack. For them, a Macbook would be the way to go. For a graphic design student the situation is different. Unless you need to take a lot of general education classes that require you to walk around campus, you'll probably find yourself confined to one or two areas of the campus. For my program, it's confined to 2 buildings that are next to each other. As for space, we have larger work tables or stations. Most of the students are using 15" MBPs, but I do see a few 17s" too.
However, aside from the issue of the size of computer, you really need to be looking at what else you will be packing around for your classes. Last semester, in addition to the laptop, I had about 30 lbs of design supplies to lug around. I wound up buying a rolling case because it made it easier to stay organized. I noticed by the end of semester, most of the students had ditched their backpacks in favor of the rolling case. Anyway, if you had a 17" laptop, it would make it more difficult to find space for it and all your other stuff so that needs to be considered too. In my opinion, while I think a 17" is awesome, it's probably overkill for a graphic design student. The 15" is the sweet-spot for size and performance.
However, aside from the issue of the size of computer, you really need to be looking at what else you will be packing around for your classes. Last semester, in addition to the laptop, I had about 30 lbs of design supplies to lug around. I wound up buying a rolling case because it made it easier to stay organized. I noticed by the end of semester, most of the students had ditched their backpacks in favor of the rolling case. Anyway, if you had a 17" laptop, it would make it more difficult to find space for it and all your other stuff so that needs to be considered too. In my opinion, while I think a 17" is awesome, it's probably overkill for a graphic design student. The 15" is the sweet-spot for size and performance.