Long time self-concious 13-incher considering 15". Opinions

[laz232]

Another 15" thread, but in this case half of it is mental - feeling self-conscious about using such a big machine in public... any opinions/advice?

2013 13" rMBP user.
This is my only and main computer for my work and life, always taking my machine with me to clients (free-lance engineer) and to the lab.

Don't game or need GPU, need to go over to 16GB of RAM for running Windows VMs for some design SW.
Battery life is important (hoping for 6 hours of my use).

However, my eyes are getting worse, as is my neck pain (bad posture), so I hope that the 15" will alleviate those a little bit with larger and taller screen / larger text.

Love the size of the 13"... but work a lot from coffee shops and I would feel kind of self-conscious taking a large 15" computer out - whereas the 13" rMBP (and 13" MBA before that) is discrete.

Does anyone else have this reason that's holding them back from getting the 15"? How do I avoid feeling like a prick taking out a big 3500 USD laptop in public? FWIW I'm a low BMI middle-aged dude, so a 15" MBP is wider than I am.

(My reason for doing work at cafes is insomnia -> up early, complete loneliness as a free-lancer and a love of good coffee)

 

[TinaBelcher]

I have the exact same laptop and I had the exact same concerns!!

I just ordered the 15-inch in space gray with the standard 16gb ram and no extra external upgrades. As you, I use my current laptop for everything. I used to have an iMac almost a decade ago and it gave up on me 2 years ago. I got fed up with the 13-inch’s screen because i always use split view for studying and feels almost claustrophobic in a weird way seeing your notes so choppy looking.. Don’t let other people’s opinion hold you back from getting what you want and deserve. I know damn well when i get back to school after summer that the other students will look weird at me and ask “omg why you bought such a large Mac? How much money you got?” I got the same condescending reaction when they saw my iPhone X “omg you actually paid for the X? You rich or something? I’d never pay that much” - ok yeah cool story but I didn’t ask for your opinion, unless I’m paid to hear it then shove it up your ***

Regarding neck pain, i also hope the larger screen will reduce my bed neck position

 

[DOUGHNUT]

Why not consider getting an external display? 15 inch is quite a large size and makes me not want to take it out if I’m on the go

 

[ibtj]

well, i'm kind of a self conscious loner myself, and i had the same thoughts when i switched from the 13" to the 15" mbp in 2012.

let me assure you: people won't care and it's not obscenely large, even when used in smaller cafes. the screensize is hugely beneficial to just about anything you do on your computer and i cannot see myself ever buying a smaller screened model again.

it might feel weird for the first couple of weeks, but you will be doing yourself a great favor if you choose to go trough this.

 

[robvas]

Too big for most tables IMO

 

[Matz]

My last MBP was a 13”, which was ok when it was connected to an external monitor. While it was smallish and a bit lighter, I found myself wishing for more screen.

If I ever buy another MBP, it will be a 15”.

 

[haruhiko]

I always get the 15-inch because of the discrete graphics.

 

[poorcody]

Don't worry, your 15" is going to look tiny at Starbucks:

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1926590-10-times-people-brought-desktop-pcs-to-coffee-shops

 

[mikethebigo]

Don't worry man. It's no longer socially unusual or awkward to take laptops of any size to coffee shops for work. No one will judge you, and if they do, they have some serious problems.

 

[lcseds]

I don't notice the size of the 15" after years of ownership and appreciate the large screen. In honesty, sometimes I have to look at another system while out and about to see if it has the speaker grills or not. I can't tell a 13 from a 15 sometimes with just a glance.

Remember when the new, larger iPhones came out? Everyone though it was funny that people were holding a "tablet" to their ear. Now they are mainstream. Same sort of thing with the "giant" iPads. Don't worry about the appearance, get what you like. I don't think many will notice.

 

[Ma2k5]

My main worry with the 15" is the dGPU turning on and being utilised over the iGPU when it really isn't needed. I hear it has this weird behaviour on various apps, probably more so if you take advantage of things like VMWare.
Seen some strange stories where it would turn on in just some developer text editors, when just browsing as well as a few other odd scenario's - some users ended up having to force turn off dGPU using software.

This will end up killing the battery very fast, to maybe just a few hours of use. I don't know how prevalent the issue is, but it is a concern as I would be using it a lot away from a power source.

 

[roland.g]

I want the larger screen but am worried about weight and heat. I have a 2012 13” MBA. Not sure if the 13” MBP will run hotter in your lap as I will use on the couch, in bed, etc. But I have used a 2015 15” MBP for a short bit and found that got uncomfortably warm on my lap just using it on the couch. The 2015 is also a 4.5lb and not a 4lb machine like the newer ones but I am very used to my 2.97lb 2012 MBA which I don’t notice any weight or heat issues.

 

[The Mercurian]

Do you fly much?

I have a 2014 MBP and I find it is just too big for airplane seats. I can use it on the plane - but its pretty uncomfortable mostly.

Whether my next machine is Apple or Dell I'm considering downgrading to a 13" for this reason

 

[laz232]

Why not consider getting an external display? 15 inch is quite a large size and makes me not want to take it out if I’m on the go

Because plugging an external display in whilst at the local coffee shop would definitely make me nervous
Already have external display(s), but of course they are not available in trains, at cafes etc. and not always at clients either. Moreover, the idea of getting the 15" is that I can be productive with less neck strain at "third locations"

 

[roland.g]

Do you fly much?

I have a 2014 MBP and I find it is just too big for airplane seats. I can use it on the plane - but its pretty uncomfortable mostly.

Whether my next machine is Apple or Dell I'm considering downgrading to a 13" for this reason

I don’t flyvthat much and last time I did I had both my 13” Air and a borrowed 15” MBP and I used the 15” to watch a movie on the flight no problem. I don’t tend to use flight time to do much work.

I’m more concerned with heat on my lap on the couch and weight. The borrowed 15” is 4.5 lbs so heavier than the current 4 lb machines . And I don’t know how hot a 13” Quad Core will get compared to my Air or the 15” 6 Core machines. My Air doesn’t get warm really. But I’m not sure how well heat is managed on the newest machines.

 

[The Mercurian]

I don’t flyvthat much and last time I did I had both my 13” Air and a borrowed 15” MBP and I used the 15” to watch a movie on the flight no problem. I don’t tend to use flight time to do much work.

I’m more concerned with heat on my lap on the couch and weight. The borrowed 15” is 4.5 lbs so heavier than the current 4 lb machines . And I don’t know how hot a 13” Quad Core will get compared to my Air or the 15” 6 Core machines. My Air doesn’t get warm really. But I’m not sure how well heat is managed on the newest machines.

Ah right. its very hard to type on 15" I find. Although I'm in economy class so maybe that makes a difference haha. I gets lots of work done when I fly usually. I have a second hand 12" rMB I got that I use now for short trips

 

[laz232]

Do you fly much?

I have a 2014 MBP and I find it is just too big for airplane seats. I can use it on the plane - but its pretty uncomfortable mostly.

Whether my next machine is Apple or Dell I'm considering downgrading to a 13" for this reason

No more than about 8hours in the air per month (4x2 hour flights) and because I am pretty small I think I can use it without a table for reading for those flights. After all the 15" is only (checks notes) 3.5cm wider than my current system.

Moreover I'm not self-conc at all about having it out in a plane - everyone does this with their 14-15" business laptops
[doublepost=1531848921][/doublepost]

I want the larger screen but am worried about weight and heat. I have a 2012 13” MBA. Not sure if the 13” MBP will run hotter in your lap as I will use on the couch, in bed, etc. But I have used a 2015 15” MBP for a short bit and found that got uncomfortably warm on my lap just using it on the couch. The 2015 is also a 4.5lb and not a 4lb machine like the newer ones but I am very used to my 2.97lb 2012 MBA which I don’t notice any weight or heat issues.

My 2011 MBA13 would get pretty warm depending on the task - in fact it's actually a bit bigger (but lighter) than my 2013 rMBP13.

I tried an old 2010 MBP15 today - wow that really is a battleship at 2.54 kg and 2cm thick. I never took that out when I had it...

 

[The Mercurian]

No more than about 8hours in the air per month (4x2 hour flights) and because I am pretty small I think I can use it without a table for reading for those flights. After all the 15" is only (checks notes) 3.5cm wider than my current system.

Moreover I'm not self-conc at all about having it out in a plane - everyone does this with their 14-15" business laptops

Specifically the problem I find is in opening the screen fully - especially if the person in front leans their seat back - more than once I’ve need quick reflexes to bend the screen out of the way. It’s easier to use on my lap without using the tray I find. Usually I end up working with the screen titled a bit towards being closed

 

[laz232]

I have the exact same laptop and I had the exact same concerns!!

I just ordered the 15-inch in space gray with the standard 16gb ram and no extra external upgrades. As you, I use my current laptop for everything. I used to have an iMac almost a decade ago and it gave up on me 2 years ago. I got fed up with the 13-inch’s screen because i always use split view for studying and feels almost claustrophobic in a weird way seeing your notes so choppy looking.. Don’t let other people’s opinion hold you back from getting what you want and deserve. I know damn well when i get back to school after summer that the other students will look weird at me and ask “omg why you bought such a large Mac? How much money you got?” I got the same condescending reaction when they saw my iPhone X “omg you actually paid for the X? You rich or something? I’d never pay that much” - ok yeah cool story but I didn’t ask for your opinion, unless I’m paid to hear it then shove it up your ***

Regarding neck pain, i also hope the larger screen will reduce my bed neck position

Thank you for the encouragement. The portability of the 13" has done me well since 2011, but with advancing age I'm going to give the larger size a try.

I usually do an hour or two of work in a cafe in the morning (7am to 9am) then bike to a client and work some hours there. I just asked the cafe owner - he's a consultant to the O&G industry that runs a coffee shop as a hobby. In any case - he uses a 2015 rMBP15 and expressed the opinion that 15" is the way to go. It's also interesting that phones (and iPads) have been creeping up into enormous sizes - and people definitely felt silly using those a couple of years ago.

Actually the cafe purposefully does not have WiFi - even though I go there regularly to work a bit but sometimes chat with the staff if it's a slow day.

And finally, perhaps it will force me to be more aware when and where I use my machine, so that it's not just pulled out idly everywhere, but will require a more conscious effort to use it, even if I do carry it with my in my rucksack everywhere.

 

[Beau10]

My main worry with the 15" is the dGPU turning on and being utilised over the iGPU when it really isn't needed. I hear it has this weird behaviour on various apps, probably more so if you take advantage of things like VMWare.
Seen some strange stories where it would turn on in just some developer text editors, when just browsing as well as a few other odd scenario's - some users ended up having to force turn off dGPU using software.

This will end up killing the battery very fast, to maybe just a few hours of use. I don't know how prevalent the issue is, but it is a concern as I would be using it a lot away from a power source.

This is one of the primary reasons I traded in a late 2013 15" rMBP for a 2014 13" rMBP. There was an app I used to prevent the switchover but from what I recall it was fairly glitchy. Of course left alone it was weird and rather erratic in switching over.

I'd hope things have improved with this over the years. It was the one case where the user experience was pretty poor with the machine, it made battery life and heat/fan noise somewhat unpredictable.

 

[laz232]

Specifically the problem I find is in opening the screen fully - especially if the person in front leans their seat back - more than once I’ve need quick reflexes to bend the screen out of the way. It’s easier to use on my lap without using the tray I find. Usually I end up working with the screen titled a bit towards being closed

Yep, I find that with the 13" too, but as I said with the 8hours / month maximum it's not really a concern (esp when time with seatbelts sign off is perhaps 75% of that)
[doublepost=1531850060][/doublepost]

I want the larger screen but am worried about weight and heat. I have a 2012 13” MBA. Not sure if the 13” MBP will run hotter in your lap as I will use on the couch, in bed, etc. But I have used a 2015 15” MBP for a short bit and found that got uncomfortably warm on my lap just using it on the couch. The 2015 is also a 4.5lb and not a 4lb machine like the newer ones but I am very used to my 2.97lb 2012 MBA which I don’t notice any weight or heat issues.

I noticed the slight increase in weight in going from one 13" to the other 13": 1.37kg MBA13 to 1.6kg rMBP13 - but the 1.8kg MBP15 seems very similar to the rMBP13 - just a larger footprint (actually closer to the MBA13 due to the Air's large bezel). Still I never felt selfconcious about pulling out the Air - the slighly reduced footprint, coupled with that fact that the Air was <50% of the price of the new MBP15 (1600 USD compared to 3600 USD inflation adjusted, including tax)
[doublepost=1531850436][/doublepost]

This is one of the primary reasons I traded in a late 2013 15" rMBP for a 2014 13" rMBP. There was an app I used to prevent the switchover but from what I recall it was fairly glitchy. Of course left alone it was weird and rather erratic in switching over.

I'd hope things have improved with this over the years. It was the one case where the user experience was pretty poor with the machine, it made battery life and heat/fan noise somewhat unpredictable.

Yep - I remember donating to Codi Krieger (IIRC) gfxCardStatus for the year I had a 2010 MBP15 from my dayjob...
Does something similar exist for the newer models (I know that the dGPU is required for the external screens)?

 

[pookitoo]

For me , I love to have very nomade things so I started back in 2010 with a 11 inch MacBook Air, and start working with it until 2014 and go with a 13 inch rMacbook pro retina and feel so huge and heavy ;(

When they release the new one in 2016 was very happy (and I'm working at this time a lot at my office with an external monitor.

But in 2017 I started to work outside my office only with my computer without external monitor and feel the 13 inch very small to do some design stuff and decided to give a try to the 15 inch and for the moment : never look back ! Yes a little bit bigger but feel les bulkier than the 2014 rMacbook pro.

And the screen real estate is so comfortable ! and when you are use to it so hard to go back to a smaller screen ! Really depend on what you do on it but for photography stuff and design it's perfect (and video sometimes) ! and don't feel the 15 inch too big. Just my 2 cents But maybe some day I'll be back to a smaller form factor

 

[roland.g]

Yep, I find that with the 13" too, but as I said with the 8hours / month maximum it's not really a concern (esp when time with seatbelts sign off is perhaps 75% of that)
[doublepost=1531850060][/doublepost]

I noticed the slight increase in weight in going from one 13" to the other 13": 1.37kg MBA13 to 1.6kg rMBP13 - but the 1.8kg MBP15 seems very similar to the rMBP13 - just a larger footprint (actually closer to the MBA13 due to the Air's large bezel). Still I never felt selfconcious about pulling out the Air - the slighly reduced footprint, coupled with that fact that the Air was <50% of the price of the new MBP15 (1600 USD compared to 3600 USD inflation adjusted, including tax)

Thanks. For me I think at this point the 4lb 15” is less of a concern due to the fact that it was 4.5lbs previously and they lightened it. I really want the screen size. I am worried though that the 6-Core will get hot on my lap doing even everyday tasks. But I imagine the new Quad 13” will too. These aren’t MBAs after all. If there is really no difference in heat between the 13 and 15 I would go 15.

Ideally I would want a 14” MacBook (I don’t need crazy CPU or GPU) with 16GB RAM and a 1TB drive (I’d settle for 512 if I had to). And I’d want the MacBook to adopt the TouchBar and T2 chip. If they did they, I wouldn’t need a Pro.

 

[PeterJP]

I have a 2013 13" rMBP as well. When I bought it, I tried the 11" Air but I couldn't get used to the mac font rendering on that low res screen. Before that, my own machines were mainly PDAs so I was used to small machines.
But in these 4 year , I've used the 13" rMBP for so much more than I expected. It's really my main computer. I've done development, VMs, the works. And I found it to be limiting sometimes.
Today, I visited an Apple distributor nearby, armed (cough) with a good muscle memory of how my 13" feels. Actually, both the new 15" and 13" are quite close. I played around for a while with the 15". Going to the 13" afterwards, it felt way too small. What also makes a difference is that the 15"'s default scale mode is 1680x1050 whereas my 13" defaults to 1280x800. That's a lot more usable space.
As for weight and size: I wouldn't call the 15" unbalanced when I was holding it open by a corner in one hand. The fact that it's thinner makes it great to hold. So I've overcome my doubts about the size of the machine. When I order my next one, it'll be a 15".

 

[wayne905]

I'm also on the fence between 13" and 15". I did order a 13" and it's en route to my house (should arrive by Monday)...but the OP and respondents bring up good points. I used to have a 2014 13" which i used as a mobile computer, and had a late 2012 iMac. I've since decided to sell it all off and go with a new laptop, and pair it with a 27" 4K monitor (as I really don't need 2 computers at home) - so now I can use the monitor with the MBP when I want a traditional desk setup and then disconnect the one cable and then use the MBP as a mobile machine. I generally use my laptop for watching videos in bed or computing around the house, and transferring files/movies/pictures when I drop by my parents place. The odd time I travel I like to bring it along as well - mostly for entertainment purposes. I too have bad posture and feel the pain/numbness which goes along with prolonged bad posture and am trying to correct my posture. SO I think the slightly taller screen might also help with my posture, combined with the larger screen for my 47 year old eyes I'm re-thinking my 13" purchase. I can always return it when it comes in if I choose the 15" route...ugh decisions!! I purchased the 13" without hesitation, as that's what I had previously and figured I'd go the same route again this time, but the comments on here have me rethinking that decision. I guess I'll be stopping by my local Apple store to compare the 13" with the 15"