I'm a plonker..anyone else keep switching between 13", 15" and 17"?

[kolax]

So, I sold my 15" MBP, and got a 13" MBP. Plan was to invest in a 21.5" iMac to go with it, but I've gone back to wishing I just had one Mac that was powerful and portable, and the 15" is that. Also, I really miss matte. I've gone over it again and again, and each time I get glossy, I love it for the richer colours, then start to regret it and wish I had got matte.

So, here I am. About 4 months ago, I sold my 15" glossy uMBP and invested in a 17" MBP. Had it for a couple of days, and found the PPI a bit intense, also a bit too big to lug around. So, exchanged it for a 15" anti-glare uMBP and it was great. Then, couple weeks ago, I felt like getting a 13" MBP and a 21.5" iMac as a setup. So, here I am with a 13" MBP and regretting it.. and wishing I had just invested in a 20" Cinema Display off eBay.

So, in the past 4 months, I've gone from a 15" to a 17" back to a 15" and now I'm with a 13".

What am I going to do? Wait for the Core i5 MBP to come out and switch to the anti-glare model of that.

I'm crazy.. anyone else so inconsistent with their purchases like me?

Just a bit worried the Glasgow Apple Store is going to start raising eyebrows when I come back into the store to buy yet another Mac..

 

[miles01110]

Maybe if you spend enough in restocking fees you'll get a free one. Buy 10 get one free?

 

[kolax]

Maybe if you spend enough in restocking fees you'll get a free one. Buy 10 get one free?

I only exchanged the 17" for a 15" at the Apple Store. The 15" I sold last week was on eBay.

Thing is, I use student discount (higher education, ~15% and AppleCare for ~$80). So, when it comes to selling on eBay, I'm not loosing a huge amount, and the 3 year AppleCare is a bonus in selling.

In the last 6 months, I've bought 4 MBP's and a 24" Cinema Display (which I sold not long after purchase because I couldn't stand the glare).

 

[Warsteiner]

Holy crap... How much money have you lost due to all this chopping and changing?

What am I going to do? Wait for the Core i5 MBP to come out and switch to the anti-glare model of that.

Good idea. That's certainly what I'm waiting to do, anyway.

 

[vincebio]

So, I sold my 15" MBP, and got a 13" MBP. Plan was to invest in a 21.5" iMac to go with it, but I've gone back to wishing I just had one Mac that was powerful and portable, and the 15" is that. Also, I really miss matte. I've gone over it again and again, and each time I get glossy, I love it for the richer colours, then start to regret it and wish I had got matte.

So, here I am. About 4 months ago, I sold my 15" glossy uMBP and invested in a 17" MBP. Had it for a couple of days, and found the PPI a bit intense, also a bit too big to lug around. So, exchanged it for a 15" anti-glare uMBP and it was great. Then, couple weeks ago, I felt like getting a 13" MBP and a 21.5" iMac as a setup. So, here I am with a 13" MBP and regretting it.. and wishing I had just invested in a 20" Cinema Display off eBay.

So, in the past 4 months, I've gone from a 15" to a 17" back to a 15" and now I'm with a 13".

What am I going to do? Wait for the Core i5 MBP to come out and switch to the anti-glare model of that.

I'm crazy.. anyone else so inconsistent with their purchases like me?

Just a bit worried the Glasgow Apple Store is going to start raising eyebrows when I come back into the store to buy yet another Mac..

al say it in local speak first...
yer aff yer nut man

what a lot of hassle...why dont you just buy a 17" and a screen to go with it?
the 17" isnt that heavy once you get used to it...

i have mines hooked up to a cinema 23" and love the best of both worlds

 

[thegilly]

You have good reasons for going with a 15" MBP--you want matte, and the 17" is too big for your notions of portability. You have good reasons for wanting to have just the one machine. Therefore, I'd recommend getting a 15" and sticking with it for at least six months so you can get used to it! If you miss the intensity of the colours, get a glossy external monitor for when you're watching movies or doing other colour intensive things. Stop mucking around changing every five minutes, that's only making you nitpick yourself out of every possible option. You could be happy with any of these Macs if you'd just commit to it. From my reading, you'd be happiest with the 15" matte.

 

[kolax]

al say it in local speak first...
yer aff yer nut man

what a lot of hassle...why dont you just buy a 17" and a screen to go with it?
the 17" isnt that heavy once you get used to it...

i have mines hooked up to a cinema 23" and love the best of both worlds

Was the resolution of the 17" - it's great but I found it a little bit of a strain on the eyes. Also, it isn't really that heavy compared to the 15", but quite big when it comes to sitting on my lap in a sofa etc.

You have good reasons for going with a 15" MBP--you want matte, and the 17" is too big for your notions of portability. You have good reasons for wanting to have just the one machine. Therefore, I'd recommend getting a 15" and sticking with it for at least six months so you can get used to it! If you miss the intensity of the colours, get a glossy external monitor for when you're watching movies or doing other colour intensive things. Stop mucking around changing every five minutes, that's only making you nitpick yourself out of every possible option. You could be happy with any of these Macs if you'd just commit to it. From my reading, you'd be happiest with the 15" matte.

Yeah, I've used a 15" MBP since I switched in January 2007. It really is what I'm used to. I used the 15" anti-glare unibody MBP since September 2009, and I loved it. And until I went from the non-unibody MBP to the uMBP in Dec 08, I had always used matte. Then from Dec 08 to Sept. 09, I used a glassy glossy screen and was in denial about tolerating the reflections and glare.

I think getting the new i5 15" MBP is the best route to go.

Holy crap... How much money have you lost due to all this chopping and changing?

When I sold my 10 month old glossy uMBP I lost around £250 (though, long story short, my non-unibody MBP's GPU died and took the screen out with it, so John Lewis replaced the whole laptop with the new unibody model), so wasn't really a loss.

Then spent around £450 on top of the sale of the 15" uMBP to get the anti-glare 17" MBP, which then I exchanged for the 15" anti-glare MBP, so took me down to around £250 investment from the sale.

Sold that, and lost around £120 from the price I paid and what I sold it for, which isn't really that bad.

Probably can't really take this 13" MBP back to the Apple Store for an exchange (considering that I exchanged it two times to get a screen that didn't suffer from dead pixels/washed out bottom, and then ending up exchanging it for the bottom 13" MBP model to get more funds for the 21.5" iMac).

As I said, I'm a plonker.. and while I'm not loosing a huge amount of money (mainly because of student discount and the eBay price being similar), it is a waste of time to keep switching around.

So, plan is to wait for the Core i5 15" MBP in anti-glare and stop fantasying about setups that involve glossy displays that I'll hate.

 

[hundert]

I posted somewhere comparing 13 15 and 17 here on MRumors.

I think noone would agree with you about the 17. PPi is acceptable even for people who have very bad vision, and the resolution is a very nice one.

The resolution on the 15 is a very very bad one.

I would not recommend 13 to everyone. It is a good thing to have around to capture video footage, but working on it could be difficult. Now, with external moni, it is something else. But to get a good ips panel monitor you will have to pay a huge ton of money.

 

[kolax]

I think noone would agree with you about the 17. PPi is acceptable even for people who have very bad vision, and the resolution is a very nice one.

The resolution on the 15 is a very very bad one.

When I posted about moving from the 17" to the 15", folk who use the 17" said I didn't give it a proper try (i.e. long enough for myself to adapt). Which is true..

1680x1050 on the new Core i5 15" MBP would be nice..

 

[palmerc2]

I have my mind set to get the 17" once an update happens......

I honestly have NO idea why people complain that the 17" is too big / heavy compared to the smaller brothers.....SERIOUSLY?????? is an extra 2 lbs REALLY that difficult to lug around? sheesh, when I was in elementary school I had a 30lb backpack. Besides, don't some of you use a 17" laptop bag for a 15" laptop? I think it is a "sacrifice" worth making to have the extra screen real estate....but thats just me

 

[ayeying]

Go with the 17" fully loaded. It's better lol. I personally find that the 17" to be extremely powerful for a laptop and it's not heavy or big at all. I actually love this 17" better then my MBA.

 

[entatlrg]

I'm crazy.. anyone else so inconsistent with their purchases like me?

Hahaaa I've met my twin! LOL. Yes, I'm very much the same as you, undecided as hell.

At least I have an out, my company uses all mac's and what I don't use/keep goes to my staff ... they like my gadget addiction, I'm the same with phones too

I understand your comments about wanting to work from one machine, I'm the same way and posted a lot about it.... But - I have found a solution that really helps if you're going to use more than one machine and that's dropbox.com, great software.

I've owned/used the Mac Pro, 13, 15, 17" MBP's, also have a MBA and iMac's in our office too.

What I've settled on using the most to my own surprise is the 13" MBP, and I do design work/drawings on that little 13" screen. To me the 15" is just a little too large/clunky to want to grab and go and take with you everywhere ... it's so easy to grab the 13" off a table toss it on your lap and start typing the 15" you go a little differently about how you handle it, it's just big enough to feel clunky at times, whereas the 13" is always, "wow, what a great little computer to use...."

So I have the 13" MBP, 2.5 ghz with 256ssd that I use as my main machine and I have my Mac Pro with dual 24" ACD's at my desk ... used for downloading, storage, surfing and the finer details of my design/drawing work. I don't like to sit at a desk and work, that's why my 13" gets used the most, I take and use it everywhere.

Since I do a of on the couch/lazy boy chair typing you'd think I'd prefer the larger, better 15" screen .... agreed it's nice but the trade off of the size/weight/clunkiness just makes it that much less convenient to want to grab and use ... guess what I'm saying that for me the 13" MBP is a better day to day user experience.

For me also, the 17" resolution is way too high for that size of monitor ... for viewing photo's / watching movies it's beautful but for 'work' reading text the fonts are far too small, resizing isn't adequate, I returned mine.

I have a 1.86/128ssd MacBook Air too, but I like the 13" MBP keyboard MUCH more, plus I use the SD card slot. The Air gives you the ability to do your work on a very thin and light computer but for a 'main machine' I need more usb ports, the sd card slot along with the keyboard I think is a better trade off compared to lighter weight and thinness. If I walked far with the computer in my bag everyday then I'd use the Air for sure.

That's my experience with the whole line, man I switched back and forth often, mostly between the 13" and 15" MBP ... I never gave the desktops much attention ... I'm more into laptops for sure but I couldn't imagine not having my Mac Pro as an 'always on' machine, I need it as well for downloads, storage, occasional heavy work and dual 24" screens are great for editing etc.

Conclusion, for me the 13" MBP and dual monitor Mac Pro set up along with Dropbox software is the best set up going. I still miss the screen of the 15" and the cool factor of the Air but I'm sticking with what I have for now ... until the next update of course

 

[[DL]]

The 15", IMO, is the best model. 17" is a bit too large...

 

[entatlrg]

Go with the 17" fully loaded. It's better lol. I personally find that the 17" to be extremely powerful for a laptop and it's not heavy or big at all. I actually love this 17" better then my MBA.

Cool, 13" Air to 17" MBP is a drastic change. I really like the 17's too, but the small fonts strained my eyes so it wasn't an option.

I went through the Air phase and settled with the 13" MBP ... so far so good.

 

[Jaro65]

So I have the 13" MBP, 2.5 ghz with 256ssd that I use as my main machine and I have my Mac Pro with dual 24" ACD's at my desk ... used for downloading, storage, surfing and the finer details of my design/drawing work. I don't like to sit at a desk and work, that's why my 13" gets used the most, I take and use it everywhere.

Since I do a of on the couch/lazy boy chair typing you'd think I'd prefer the larger, better 15" screen .... agreed it's nice but the trade off of the size/weight/clunkiness just makes it that much less convenient to want to grab and use ... guess what I'm saying that for me the 13" MBP is a better day to day user experience.

For me also, the 17" resolution is way too high for that size of monitor ... for viewing photo's / watching movies it's beautful but for 'work' reading text the fonts are far too small, resizing isn't adequate, I returned mine.

I have a 1.86/128ssd MacBook Air too, but I like the 13" MBP keyboard MUCH more, plus I use the SD card slot. The Air gives you the ability to do your work on a very thin and light computer but for a 'main machine' I need more usb ports, the sd card slot along with the keyboard I think is a better trade off compared to lighter weight and thinness. If I walked far with the computer in my bag everyday then I'd use the Air for sure.

That's my experience with the whole line, man I switched back and forth often, mostly between the 13" and 15" MBP ... I never gave the desktops much attention ... I'm more into laptops for sure but I couldn't imagine not having my Mac Pro as an 'always on' machine, I need it as well for downloads, storage, occasional heavy work and dual 24" screens are great for editing etc.

Conclusion, for me the 13" MBP and dual monitor Mac Pro set up along with Dropbox software is the best set up going. I still miss the screen of the 15" and the cool factor of the Air but I'm sticking with what I have for now ... until the next update of course

I sincerely hope you own a few shares of Apple stock.

 

[entatlrg]

I should buy Apple stock, (before the iPad in released?, lol)....

Our purchases of Apple's products for 2009 was near $100,000. We have a Corporate Account they've really treated us well .... after 15 year's we're all Mac now, it's great ... love the hardware ... no software challenges either with VMfusion to get us through Windows when need be...

We came from Windows hardware and software hell ... you bet I'm a Apple fan boy now ... Almost bought the new Motorola Droid/Milestone then I snapped out of it and polished my iPhone, lol

 

[Hellishness]

i don't have enough money to be as crazy as you...

 

[Absent]

Thing is, I use student discount (higher education, ~15% and AppleCare for ~$80). So, when it comes to selling on eBay, I'm not loosing a huge amount, and the 3 year AppleCare is a bonus in selling.

You got Applecare for 80 bucks? Cheapest I'm seeing is $183 for MBA and MBP 13" in the education store. What am I missing? Also, is this "higher education" and "~15%" listing the same thing or separate?

 

[psingh01]

I have a 17" MBP, I'm likely to switch down to a 15" MBP. I love the larger screen but want something a bit more portable. I'd be great if the new 15" have a 1680x1050 resolution (the same as I have now) then I wouldn't lose any screen real-estate.

I'd only consider a 13" if it had both an anti-glare option and a dedicated graphics card.

 

[Opstech]

So, I sold my 15" MBP, and got a 13" MBP. Plan was to invest in a 21.5" iMac to go with it, but I've gone back to wishing I just had one Mac that was powerful and portable, and the 15" is that. Also, I really miss matte. I've gone over it again and again, and each time I get glossy, I love it for the richer colours, then start to regret it and wish I had got matte.

So, here I am. About 4 months ago, I sold my 15" glossy uMBP and invested in a 17" MBP. Had it for a couple of days, and found the PPI a bit intense, also a bit too big to lug around. So, exchanged it for a 15" anti-glare uMBP and it was great. Then, couple weeks ago, I felt like getting a 13" MBP and a 21.5" iMac as a setup. So, here I am with a 13" MBP and regretting it.. and wishing I had just invested in a 20" Cinema Display off eBay.

So, in the past 4 months, I've gone from a 15" to a 17" back to a 15" and now I'm with a 13".

What am I going to do? Wait for the Core i5 MBP to come out and switch to the anti-glare model of that.

I'm crazy.. anyone else so inconsistent with their purchases like me?

Just a bit worried the Glasgow Apple Store is going to start raising eyebrows when I come back into the store to buy yet another Mac..

I'll buy your 13" off of you. Let me know

 

[kernkraft]

Bag of disappointment and arrogance - rotten Apple

I only exchanged the 17" for a 15" at the Apple Store. The 15" I sold last week was on eBay.

Thing is, I use student discount (higher education, ~15% and AppleCare for ~$80). So, when it comes to selling on eBay, I'm not loosing a huge amount, and the 3 year AppleCare is a bonus in selling.

In the last 6 months, I've bought 4 MBP's and a 24" Cinema Display (which I sold not long after purchase because I couldn't stand the glare).

The same here, only university lecturer and a company discount.

I'm not losing much either, but the deciding factor behind selling these is Apple's arrogance. I went through 12 Apple portables since 2006. I sold my white MacBook as soon as I heard rumours about the 'brick'. Guess what, in the first day, even Apple's website stated that the basic version had backlit keyboard. I phoned them, they said it did. It didn't. Besides, I felt stupid to have the same clock speed and RAM for a lot more than my white MB cost almost two years before that. So I upgraded for the 2.4 GHz. Then were crooked keys (a couple of times) and overheating, plus noise. Meanwhile, Apple secretly upgraded that pig-awful screen in February. I was still annoyed about the lack of Firewire, but I wanted a proper screen. MBs rebranded, FW back, better battery - I had to get a new one. And another (first one was faulty, CPU whine as soon as I started). Now I have my 2.26 GHz MBP until the new ones come out, hopefully with less noise, optional anti-glare screen and better processor. I already upgraded the RAM and the HDD as I was beach balling all the time. And that was only the 13" line.

We also have the 2.53 GHz 15" MBP with the faulty Nvidia chip and I went through two first generation MB Air (they were a pleasure to type on, but otherwise noisy like hell). We still have the 15" one, I sold the last Air as I wanted an iTab. It's not gonna happen, so I will sold my much-hated iPhone 3G (second one) and NOT get an iPad but an iPod Touch with camera (if...) and a good netbook or tablet or e-reader. My girfriend is using the 15" one now and she's happy with it. But for what she uses that computer for is the stuff for netbooks.

This might seem like an excessive Apple fanboyism, but I have to admit that I am getting fed up with the disappointment the recent Apple releases brought me. Quality sucks and they just annoy the crap out of their most dedicated consumers. I mean, no Firewire? As some people would say - WTF?!

 

[kernkraft]

You got Applecare for 80 bucks? Cheapest I'm seeing is $183 for MBA and MBP 13" in the education store. What am I missing? Also, is this "higher education" and "~15%" listing the same thing or separate?

Higher education discount is 14% in the UK. For AppleCare, I usually pay £55-60 instead of the full £180-200. (1£=1.6-ish USD). But one portable per year only and evidence is required, like student ID card or lecturers' card.

Some companies have fleet contracts with Apple. We do, but I cannot discuss details.

Also, unlike in the US (as people tell me), in the UK you don't have to pay restocking fee. Within 14 days, you are free to return and receive a full refund. That's how I will test my iPad. No hard feelings, if it will be amazing, I might even keep it.

But you have to understand - before any sympathy - that we in the UK pay a lot more for these computers and consumer rights are generally strong in Europe.

 

[kolax]

I get AppleCare for £42.

I agree with you kernkraft.. the general quality of Apple's laptops now is pretty poor for a "premium" product. It is a lottery sometimes.. just hoping you get a decent machine with no dead pixels or excessive backlight bleed.

 

[srexy]

Pick up an external monitor and be done. I got an old 20" display on Ebay for a decent price.

I use a 2.53ghz 15" but am this || close to selling it on Ebay to get a new 13". The fact that it's a late '08 means I'll probably not lose any money on the deal - the discrete graphics and express card slot seem to be of value to some.

The kicker for me is that I hate the battery life on this thing and yearn for whatever the reality is for the 7hr claim