I chose to wait a full month to get the 13", instead of going to the store and get the 15" immediately. Money wasn't the issue.
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If you are back and forth on 13"vs 15"...
- Thread starter dannyar
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I don't think so, I bought a 13" once, not because I couldn't afford the 15" but I wanted something more mobile.
I love that people do not think Apple has factored in the price of returns from people trying out into the price of the system. That is just naive. Apple, and especially former COO (i.e. czar of squeeze every penny), Tim Cook, tracks these stats very closely and uses this information in their price calculations.
The people I know in Apple operations are quite aware of this and gather this data and much more all of the time. They use it to inform decisions in not only pricing, but service, staffing levels, and budgets.
You don't get to $1Trillion by not watching the pennies.
The people I know in Apple operations are quite aware of this and gather this data and much more all of the time. They use it to inform decisions in not only pricing, but service, staffing levels, and budgets.
You don't get to $1Trillion by not watching the pennies.
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I dont care at all actually and i dont see how you can come to that conclusion from anything i wrote. I clearly said multiple times i can see how people are happy with the 13 and how some may not need more than that. What im stating are facts based on performance and pricing and not left open for interpretation. If some of you are offended that i dare state a fact that the 15's are clearly a better value than the 13" then that speaks more to your insecurities and remorse with your purchase than anything else.
The way I like to look at it is you can get used to whatever within a matter of days, within reason, and largely your preferences will fall inline with what you find most ergonomic.
Screen size is one thing, portability is another, but then there is also ergonomics that come down to differing usage scenarios. That last thing is what I optimize for - I regularly work out of cafes, with the machine on my lap kicking back in a chair, etc. The 15" (the original rMBP) was problematic in those scenarios.
A 15" against a 13" back to back, just on a desk, the 15" will seem easily superior based on screen size alone, the difference is impressive. But when a coworker got the original 13" rMBP the week it came out and let me borrow it for a half day, it was obvious to me that it was the machine I'd be getting next.
Right... but you originally said "Once you use a 15” screen is it hard to go back to something smaller." The implication being of course that's the choice if you can afford it. I'm providing an alternate perspective where cost was no object and I chose otherwise.
Cost was also not an issue with me, I have owned a 13" and was a bit small for my tastes. I do not have to lug my laptop through airports but it does see a good bit of field work and the extra screen size is a plus when you have two or three people trying to look at a drawing in AutoCad at the same time.
Choice is good, pick yours and be happy!
My MBP 13” made the rounds. I picked it up thinking that I would really like the smaller/lighter form factor over the larger 15” I was used to and fell in love with it in the store. But after living with it for a year, I found I was more in love with the idea of it more than the actual use of it and decided to go back to the 15”.
When I did that, my wife fell in love with it and she asked if she could have it to replace her 15”. She also found she was more in love with the idea of it.
So when they announced the new 2018’s and I told her I was thinking about selling my 2016 and buying a 2018, she quickly mentioned she would rather have my 2016 15” than the 13”.
So the 13” officially became the “red headed step child” last week.
But there is a laptop for every person and a person for every laptop and I am sure the 13” will have its true fans who wouldn’t dream of giving it up for the larger 15”. It’s all down to personal choice and what best fits our individual business and personal needs.
When I did that, my wife fell in love with it and she asked if she could have it to replace her 15”. She also found she was more in love with the idea of it.
So when they announced the new 2018’s and I told her I was thinking about selling my 2016 and buying a 2018, she quickly mentioned she would rather have my 2016 15” than the 13”.
So the 13” officially became the “red headed step child” last week.
But there is a laptop for every person and a person for every laptop and I am sure the 13” will have its true fans who wouldn’t dream of giving it up for the larger 15”. It’s all down to personal choice and what best fits our individual business and personal needs.
“Convinced Themselves” is not really a friendly statement. MB12 and MBP13 are apples and oranges when trying to compare.
That's a subjective conclusion. Its better for you, its not better for everyone.
I mean who else other than yourself do you have to convince about what you need or want? And again please tell me as no one has, what makes a top of the line MB12 so different from a base 13 MBP if you are not doing any video or intense photo editing. Ill wait...
Might I ask, why were you looking to (and maybe eventually did) upgrade to the 2018, coming from 2016?
Primarily a spec upgrade. I plan to use it with an LG Ultrafine 5K display for home and sell my iMac, may add an eGPU as well.
Mb12 has no thunderbolt 3. It’s a huge difference. No fast storage, no egpu etc... Also the cpu is about half of the performance of the new 13” base model
Im not asking you its specs. Im asking what cant you do on it that you can do on a base model 13" MBP. If you wanna talk about using a 600-700 egpu now your already in the price range of the highest end 15". Does slightly faster SSD help you browse the web, word process and check emails much faster? Is the processor difference enough where it would detract you from doing the above said tasks? If so, is it worth the extra $500? The same arguments everyone is making about getting the 13" over the 15" to save money is the same argument i can make about the 12" compared to the 13" mbp. Hell we can even make this more interesting and compare it to a 13" nTB which is only 1249 edu pricing. Why not that model?
So I went back and forth on this a lot when I was picking out my 2016 machine. I had purchased a 15" basically at launch and the wait times were pretty long so after seeing the 13" in store I started thinking I preferred that size so I bought a 13" model and my plan was if I really liked it I'd cancel the 15" and I really did love that thing it worked really well and the size is great but I couldn't really pull the trigger on cancelling the 15" and it shipped earlier and I sat there with that box and I couldn't just return it without really trying it out so I did.
Honestly the moment I powered it up I kind of new the 13" was going back just because the screen. I really just loved the size of it after being used to the 13" and I immediately liked how the 15" fit in my lap. Really isn't something I could test in the store but with the 13" I had to keep my legs together or it would slide one way or the other and this just feels right. I will say carrying and say using the laptop one handed you will feel the difference and the 13" really shines here and on a plane table as well. Here's my problem with that, I never really walk around one handing laptops unless I'm just carrying it closed and the weight isn't too different it's that the size of the 15" is way more unwieldly on the 15" if trying to carry it and use it type of thing. I just don't do it enough for it to matter I either use it in my lap or on a desk (most of the time on my lap probably). The other thing is when you don't actually have them both in front of you the 15" is actually really easy to carry and use. I rarely do it but it isn't hard to do or noticeable without directly comparing them.
For the airplane I totally agree the 15" is too big but IMO so is the 13". I'd much rather use an iPad on the plane it is just a far superior experience and you actually have some room on the trey table. 10" ipad is as big as I'd want to go on an airplane. I guess I don't usually try and get a bunch of work done on the plane because I'd need to be connected to a server which isn't going to happen. If you do need to knock out serious work on the trey table though the 13" is where it's at that just really isn't a priority for me in real life. I commute on a train to work but then I'm using it on my lap and prefer the 15" and screen size (here though again the ipad wins hands down). In a bag or carrying them I honestly never felt either was unwieldly they are both really slim and light laptops so I don't notice a huge difference in this case.
That's at least how I feel about them from a pure size perspective and honestly probably the main reason I chose the 15" over the 13". I do have a desktop so I'd be totally fine with the 13" power wise for a laptop just the 15" felt perfect for my uses. I will say they didn't arrive at these by accident both sizes are really perfect for their purposes most of mine just align more with the 15" I guess. Couple years later and I have no regrets.
Honestly the moment I powered it up I kind of new the 13" was going back just because the screen. I really just loved the size of it after being used to the 13" and I immediately liked how the 15" fit in my lap. Really isn't something I could test in the store but with the 13" I had to keep my legs together or it would slide one way or the other and this just feels right. I will say carrying and say using the laptop one handed you will feel the difference and the 13" really shines here and on a plane table as well. Here's my problem with that, I never really walk around one handing laptops unless I'm just carrying it closed and the weight isn't too different it's that the size of the 15" is way more unwieldly on the 15" if trying to carry it and use it type of thing. I just don't do it enough for it to matter I either use it in my lap or on a desk (most of the time on my lap probably). The other thing is when you don't actually have them both in front of you the 15" is actually really easy to carry and use. I rarely do it but it isn't hard to do or noticeable without directly comparing them.
For the airplane I totally agree the 15" is too big but IMO so is the 13". I'd much rather use an iPad on the plane it is just a far superior experience and you actually have some room on the trey table. 10" ipad is as big as I'd want to go on an airplane. I guess I don't usually try and get a bunch of work done on the plane because I'd need to be connected to a server which isn't going to happen. If you do need to knock out serious work on the trey table though the 13" is where it's at that just really isn't a priority for me in real life. I commute on a train to work but then I'm using it on my lap and prefer the 15" and screen size (here though again the ipad wins hands down). In a bag or carrying them I honestly never felt either was unwieldly they are both really slim and light laptops so I don't notice a huge difference in this case.
That's at least how I feel about them from a pure size perspective and honestly probably the main reason I chose the 15" over the 13". I do have a desktop so I'd be totally fine with the 13" power wise for a laptop just the 15" felt perfect for my uses. I will say they didn't arrive at these by accident both sizes are really perfect for their purposes most of mine just align more with the 15" I guess. Couple years later and I have no regrets.
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This was a big part of my decision to return the 13" and get the 15". I was surprised when the 13" MBP was actually smaller than my 13" MBA. The 15" fits good on my lap, which is where I use it most.
I used my MBA today for a bit. Boy did the screen feel small and look like crap compared to the 15" MBP.
You asked the difference and there it was. Checking emails, browsing the web and looking at your iPhone pictures for example can be done on 2009 MacBook which you can buy maybe less than 100$ so purely the price vs performance is actually quite bad on any new laptop according to your logic.
Many people -like myself- travels on weekly basis so the mobility is more important than pure performance.
The possibility to have egpu + fast storage + good external monitor waiting at desk gives you great flexibility
Not possible on 12mb..
don’t take me wrong here. The 12mb is an amazing laptop. It just has some compromises like any laptop on the market
very interesting thread indeed as I enjoy reading every single replies in here.
for me if money isn't an issue, I will definitely get the 15" as its better power, more screen real estate, ram, dgpu, speakers.
I am using early 2015 13" mbp i5/16/512 with Dell 2k monitor for my daily driver for web browsing (for about 60 tabs open, Ikr it's weird) , office work, some video editing, and find it no lag at all. but I hv been waiting for a 4 cores 13" for a long time like 10 years? I would like an update.
in my case, as one of my family members is upgrading too and getting the 2018 13" i5/8/512, which is the same one I want to get (for some reason we get discount only for the off the shelf one), I am not sure if we are going to have two same macbook pro at home... not sure why it feels weird perhaps I would like to have different devices at home.
so still not decide yet.
for me if money isn't an issue, I will definitely get the 15" as its better power, more screen real estate, ram, dgpu, speakers.
I am using early 2015 13" mbp i5/16/512 with Dell 2k monitor for my daily driver for web browsing (for about 60 tabs open, Ikr it's weird) , office work, some video editing, and find it no lag at all. but I hv been waiting for a 4 cores 13" for a long time like 10 years? I would like an update.
in my case, as one of my family members is upgrading too and getting the 2018 13" i5/8/512, which is the same one I want to get (for some reason we get discount only for the off the shelf one), I am not sure if we are going to have two same macbook pro at home... not sure why it feels weird perhaps I would like to have different devices at home.
so still not decide yet.