Just for the sake of conversation...

[gooter80]

Which of the two would be faster, and which would you rather have?

15" with the i5 and a 7200rpm HDD (sub in whichever of the two i5's you like)
or
13" with the C2D and one of Apple's SSDs (again, sub whichever processor you like)

I only ask for the sake of conversation, and it is one thing I don't think I've seen discussed in much depth, although I admit I haven't seen every thread here.

So, what say you?

 

[mikeo007]

I'd say it depends on what you're doing. Sequential read writes are faster on the magnetic drive, but all other hard drive operations would be slower. I would say that the SSD would be faster if you're doing a lot of multitasking that has high disk access but low processor usage. On the other hand, if you are doing low I/O tasks (or high sequential I/O) that require a lot of processor (think video encoding or gaming) then the HDD and i5 combo is better.

Every day computing, probably the SSD combo.

 

[sth]

The 13" with the SSD will feel (and be) faster in everyday use.
The 15" with the HDD will be faster at highly CPU-demanding stuff.

In any case: I wouldn't get a SSD from Apple directly. Aftermarket SSDs are better and cheaper.

 

[alphaod]

I can upgrade the HDD to an SSD later, so I'll take that thanks.

 

[Jaro65]

^^^^^
I would also most definitely take the 15" MBP. You can get the SSD at a later time.

 

[Jon03021]

I'm in the same boat. Purchase a 15'' with the high res screen and everything else default or the 13'' with an Intel g2 SSD and a some money left over for some extras.

It's such a tough choice!