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Is a 15 inch MacBook Pro's footprint too big for college?

V

Vyruss

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 4, 2012
38
0
Hey all,

Gonna be a freshman in college...just curious but do you think the 15" MacBook pro has too big of a footprint for college style desks in classrooms? Weight isn't an issue, I'm only concerned about the footprint. Thanks for any insight!
 
Vyruss said:
Hey all,

Gonna be a freshman in college...just curious but do you think the 15" MacBook pro has too big of a footprint for college style desks in classrooms? Weight isn't an issue, I'm only concerned about the footprint. Thanks for any insight!
Click to expand...

It all depends on the style of classroom. In auditorium style rooms with folding desktops, definitely too big. It would barely fit but you would have no room for anything else and it wouldn't be too comfortable typing on it. In stadium seating auditoriums with fixed desktops you'll have more breathing room but the vast majority of college and grad students use 13-inch and smaller form factors. I would look at the 11-inch MBA.
 
A 15" should be fine for all but the smallest of desks. I used a 17" through most of college. While I regularly used the standard "Seat with Attached Desk" type setups, I very rarely was in a stadium seating environment. You will find it hard to use both a paper notebook and the laptop at the same time, if you find that necessary. Still, even going down to an 11" with a paper notebook, most desks would not fit that configuration either.

Edit: I should note that I believe what I am calling stadium seating is what dailybibliotaph refers to as auditorium style.
 
dailybibliotaph said:
It all depends on the style of classroom. In auditorium style rooms with folding desktops, definitely too big. It would barely fit but you would have no room for anything else and it wouldn't be too comfortable typing on it. In stadium seating auditoriums with fixed desktops you'll have more breathing room but the vast majority of college and grad students use 13-inch and smaller form factors. I would look at the 11-inch MBA.
Click to expand...

I originally had purchased a 13 inch MBA but the color gamut was simply too narrow for me, and the 13 inch MacBook Pro has way too small of a resolution for my use. Thanks for all the advice being provided!
 
Vyruss said:
Hey all,

Gonna be a freshman in college...just curious but do you think the 15" MacBook pro has too big of a footprint for college style desks in classrooms? Weight isn't an issue, I'm only concerned about the footprint. Thanks for any insight!
Click to expand...

When I went through undergrad (all types of classrooms at University of Wisconsin) I used a 2006 Macbook Pro which is considerably larger than the new ones, especially if you are going retina. I never had a problem and thought it was the perfect size to get work done on. The only problem was the awful battery life and necessity for a charger at all times which they have somewhat solved in the newer models.
 
Vyruss said:
Hey all,

Gonna be a freshman in college...just curious but do you think the 15" MacBook pro has too big of a footprint for college style desks in classrooms? Weight isn't an issue, I'm only concerned about the footprint. Thanks for any insight!
Click to expand...
I've seen 17" and 18" laptops while procrastinating in college, your 15" is quite normal.
 
Thanks guys for all the opinions and help! Thus far I'm leaning towards getting a 15" cMPB (nothing against the retina, it's a fantastic machine I just like being able to upgrade my computers)!
 
LOL. There's hardly a difference in size from 13" to 15". 11" to 15" sure, but 13 to 15? Naah.

In stadium rooms just use the laptop on your lap. There's no real escaping that anyway.
 
I have a 13" MacBook Pro for university and it is awesome, however if I could have afforded it, I would have bought the 15".

If you want my opinion the 13" is fantastic, but if you can afford it, grab the 15".
 
JoeG4 said:
LOL. There's hardly a difference in size from 13" to 15". 11" to 15" sure, but 13 to 15? Naah.

In stadium rooms just use the laptop on your lap. There's no real escaping that anyway.
Click to expand...

Oh that's good to hear! Thanks!

JatoFire said:
I have a 13" MacBook Pro for university and it is awesome, however if I could have afforded it, I would have bought the 15".

If you want my opinion the 13" is fantastic, but if you can afford it, grab the 15".
Click to expand...

Yeah, I really liked the 13" but the resolution was just a bit too low for me, hence the upgrade to the 15". :)
 
It does not fit very well on the fold-out tables at any of the lecture halls I've been too. You can have it sit there slightly precariously or just have it on your lap. Fits well enough everywhere else.
 
JoeG4 said:
LOL. There's hardly a difference in size from 13" to 15". 11" to 15" sure, but 13 to 15? Naah.

In stadium rooms just use the laptop on your lap. There's no real escaping that anyway.
Click to expand...

Women tell me otherwise.

However, I would say there is quite a large difference in footprint size between 13 and 15, especially if you're in a cramped work environment. Never mind the fact that my 15" does not fit easily into my backpack and does not fit into my messenger bag at all, which easily takes a 13" MBP or MBA.
 
theSeb said:
Women tell me otherwise.

However, I would say there is quite a large difference in footprint size between 13 and 15, especially if you're in a cramped work environment. Never mind the fact that my 15" does not fit easily into my backpack and does not fit into my messenger bag at all, which easily takes a 13" MBP or MBA.
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Are you suggesting that women would note the difference between 13" and 15"?
 
theSeb said:
I would like to answer this with a humorous retort, but I fear I'll get a ban or a warning.
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Bleh... has it happened before? Usually your responses are amusing, especially the porsche one.
 
IMO nothing replaces the good ol' pencil and paper for taking notes in college. Sure there are various programs for taking notes on your laptop, but those become really cumbersome to use if you're taking STEM classes.

Graphs, diagrams, figures etc. are much more difficult to do on a computer than simply drawing. And when you're professors are moving rather quickly through the material you don't have much time to setup a diagram.

To be honest, I wouldn't be making my decision based on which laptop is easier to take notes on. If all you're doing is taking notes, the 11" MBA would be your best bet. Otherwise, if you're using your computer for other things then those should take priority over whether or not it will fit on the tiny desks they give you in college.
 
beamer8912 said:
IMO nothing replaces the good ol' pencil and paper for taking notes in college. Sure there are various programs for taking notes on your laptop, but those become really cumbersome to use if you're taking STEM classes.

Graphs, diagrams, figures etc. are much more difficult to do on a computer than simply drawing. And when you're professors are moving rather quickly through the material you don't have much time to setup a diagram.

To be honest, I wouldn't be making my decision based on which laptop is easier to take notes on. If all you're doing is taking notes, the 11" MBA would be your best bet. Otherwise, if you're using your computer for other things then those should take priority over whether or not it will fit on the tiny desks they give you in college.
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Agreed. I'm a 3rd year Aerospace Engineering major and there's simply no way to replicate my notes onto a computer. There's a lot of greek and math symbols used that would take too long to find on the computer, lots of graphs as well. But for the Humanities I could probably get away without any real paper or pen.

I'd say the biggest difference between the 15 inch rMBP and a 13 inch Air is the weight. I love the added screen size while at college, but carrying this bad boy in a messenger bag over the shoulder puts a nice strain on it after a short while.
 
Arcadia310 said:
Agreed. I'm a 3rd year Aerospace Engineering major and there's simply no way to replicate my notes onto a computer. There's a lot of greek and math symbols used that would take too long to find on the computer, lots of graphs as well. But for the Humanities I could probably get away without any real paper or pen.

I'd say the biggest difference between the 15 inch rMBP and a 13 inch Air is the weight. I love the added screen size while at college, but carrying this bad boy in a messenger bag over the shoulder puts a nice strain on it after a short while.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

Regardless of how streamlined the program is and how well versed you are, you will never be able to recreate a graph as quickly as you can with pencil and paper.

Source: 4 years as a physics major
 
beamer8912 said:
IMO nothing replaces the good ol' pencil and paper for taking notes in college. Sure there are various programs for taking notes on your laptop, but those become really cumbersome to use if you're taking STEM classes.

Graphs, diagrams, figures etc. are much more difficult to do on a computer than simply drawing. And when you're professors are moving rather quickly through the material you don't have much time to setup a diagram.

To be honest, I wouldn't be making my decision based on which laptop is easier to take notes on. If all you're doing is taking notes, the 11" MBA would be your best bet. Otherwise, if you're using your computer for other things then those should take priority over whether or not it will fit on the tiny desks they give you in college.
Click to expand...

In all likelihood pencil and paper will be my primary method for taking notes...the laptop will likely be used only for writing research papers etc.
 
I've noticed it will also depend on how big of a school you are going to. Bigger schools need more auditorium style classrooms, where it is in fact harder to use a 15" computer along with a notebook and pen. However, at my school we only have two auditorium style classrooms. All other classrooms are smaller with bench style seating. The benches are eight feet long and two feet wide, which are perfectly large enough for four people to sit at, while giving me enough room to use my laptop and a notebook and pen at the same time. Take a look at what classrooms you'll be in first based on the size of your major, it might help you decide how big the rooms you will be in most of the time will be.
 
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