looking for former 13inch owners who now switched to 15inch

[Geert76]

Looking for former 13inch MBP owners who now switched to the 15inch 2016MBP. Cause I am thinking of swapping my 13inch to a 15inch as soon as their available in my local Apple Store

How is your transition so far? still happy or is it too big/heavy? As for size comparison, is the 13inch from last year/2014/2013 about the same size/weight as the new 15inch MBP?

 

[jabronii]

Going from 13 to 15 is a dream. The extra screen real estate is amazing. The new 15 feels to be the same weight as the old 13. And the extra inch or so of length isn't bad.

 

[JPizzzle]

Looking for former 13inch MBP owners who now switched to the 15inch 2016MBP. Cause I am thinking of swapping my 13inch to a 15inch as soon as their available in my local Apple Store

How is your transition so far? still happy or is it too big/heavy? As for size comparison, is the 13inch from last year/2014/2013 about the same size/weight as the new 15inch MBP?

I bought the 15" two days ago and ended up returning it today for the 13". The size was the main factor. It isn't an easy laptop to just pick up and use in bed and move around without thinking. It became more of an activity to use the machine vs just picking it up and using. An added bonus is the cost savings and I think it's a better looking device without the "speaker" grills.

 

[Geert76]

I bought the 15" two days ago and ended up returning it today for the 13". The size was the main factor. It isn't an easy laptop to just pick up and use in bed and move around without thinking. It became more of an activity to use the machine vs just picking it up and using. An added bonus is the cost savings and I think it's a better looking device without the "speaker" grills.

Great! Thanks for your input

 

[Fireball Dragon]

I saw a video which shows that the footprint of the new 15" MBP is not at all much more than the original 13" Air. I have gone for 15" this time. Been using Macs since 2009 and this is my first 15". The footprint, weight and size are comfortable enough now. Plus I needed the dedicated GPU.

 

[miamialley]

I did the reverse. I went from late '08 15" to a touchbar 13" and I love it. Great size, portable and easy to use at home. The screen is definitely smaller, but that 15" screen is gigantic.

 

[Acronyc]

I went from a 15" 2012 to a 13" 2016 and am very happy so far. I never really needed the power of the 15" beyond some gaming, and while it is extremely light for its class I found it cumbersome to use when I traveled. So much so that I ended up buying the 12" rMB when they came out for travel and taking to the office every day.

Now that I have my eGPU setup working great I don't need anything as powerful as the 15". So this time I decided to go to the 13", which can replace both my 15" 2012 rMBP and my 12" rMB. I find it refreshing to be back to one main home/work/travel Mac and as my first 13" Mac I'm really loving the form factor. It's almost as portable as my 12" rMB but with enough power for me to be my main machine, all in a footprint smaller than the 15".

 

[Robstevo]

I went from a 15" 2012 to a 13" 2016 and am very happy so far. I never really needed the power of the 15" beyond some gaming, and while it is extremely light for its class I found it cumbersome to use when I traveled. So much so that I ended up buying the 12" rMB when they came out for travel and taking to the office every day.

Now that I have my eGPU setup working great I don't need anything as powerful as the 15". So this time I decided to go to the 13", which can replace both my 15" 2012 rMBP and my 12" rMB. I find it refreshing to be back to one main home/work/travel Mac and as my first 13" Mac I'm really loving the form factor. It's almost as portable as my 12" rMB but with enough power for me to be my main machine, all in a footprint smaller than the 15".

Have you got your egpu working with the new MacBook Pro 13?

I'm unsure if I should go:
15 inch with best gpu.
Or 13inch and get an egpu

 

[poorcody]

I switched from a 13" Air to the 15" Pro. I had always been reluctant to go 15" because of the added size (in terms of portability). The size on this new one was so close to the Air, though, that I decided to give it a go. I am happier than I expected. There seems to be so much more room to work on the 15", and I don't find the size to be any more burdensome than my Air was. (I do notice it is slightly heavier, but the difference is insignificant to me.) I am actually wondering now if I will even use an external monitor on my desk.

 

[darkside flow]

I had a 2012 rMBP 13" and I moved to a base 15" this year. However, at first I ordered a 13" and right now I actually have both but have arranged a return for the 13". To be honest, I wrestled with it because the new 13" is lighter and smaller than the previous one but I love the screen on the 15", it's really the main feature for me.

The old 13" was 3.67 pounds, the new 15" is 4 pounds. Negligible difference.

Having a quad core i7 and 16gb ram plus the upgraded graphics future proofs the computer for me so I can be confident I'll keep it for 4-5 years.

I also find it's easier to type on the 15 compared to a bit more of a cramped feeling with the 13.

Overall, the 15 feels like a much more significant upgrade coming from the 2012 13" and I feel like it's money well spent. Still very portable and the thin profile is shown off a bit more with the slightly larger dimensions of the 15.

Good luck with your choice!

 

[StoneCold X]

I went from an older 15" MBP to a 13" MBP with TB, and I really like the difference in weight and better portability. However, I do miss the bigger screen and I am debating on if I want to exchange my 13" for the 15"

 

[Geert76]

thanks for all of your input, I see more people here are considering moving to the 15''. And also people reversing from 15 to 13.
But I like the portability of my current 13, a lot. hmmm, gonna think a few more days about it.


thanks!

 

[Heart Break Kid]

I had a 13" MacBook Pro for the past few years and was able to pick up a 15" MacBook Pro with TouchBar earlier this week. This MacBook Pro is not like the 15" of yesteryear. It is both incredibly powerful yet portable. I was nervous about the weight, but it subjectively feels about the same as my 2013 13" rMBP. I know this isn't true, but I think I was expecting it to weigh noticeably more and it just doesn't. Functionally that translates to having the power of the 15" with the extra screen real estate travelling to and from work every day without any significant hassle. This is easily the best computer Ive ever owned.

 

[Acronyc]

Have you got your egpu working with the new MacBook Pro 13?

I'm unsure if I should go:
15 inch with best gpu.
Or 13inch and get an egpu

Yeah I got it working with my new MBP and windows 10. Haven't tried in macOS because I only use the eGPU for gaming in windows.

I decided to go the 13 plus eGPU this time. I had just the 15 before and the GPU was great when I got it but after a while it couldn't handle the newer games. The eGPU gives me flexibility to switch cards and have a powerful gaming system at home and the portability I want on the road. When I travel I don't really game, and if I do the games that I play actually run very surprisingly well on the new MBP.

 

[BenTrovato]

13" was a nicer form factor. Unfortunately MacOS performs night and day on a quad core vs dual core. I wasn't willing to put up with the slower processors any longer. No regrets on a 2016 15". Far better performing than the 13".

 

[AdonisSMU]

12" to 15" here and loving it so far. I love the screen real estate

 

[PaulWog]

Looking for former 13inch MBP owners who now switched to the 15inch 2016MBP. Cause I am thinking of swapping my 13inch to a 15inch as soon as their available in my local Apple Store

How is your transition so far? still happy or is it too big/heavy? As for size comparison, is the 13inch from last year/2014/2013 about the same size/weight as the new 15inch MBP?

I use a 15 inch Windows laptop and a 13 inch Macbook Pro.

The two are not comparable in terms of screen real estate. 15 inch is hands down better for a lot of tasks. If you need to multitask, 15 inch is just better. You can have a web page open and a spreadsheet or word open. You can swipe between apps, but it's nicer if you can swipe between two dual-screens, rather than four single-screens, depending on the kind of multitasking you're doing.

Only thing I am faulting Apple on is the way they handle split screen (a feature which really shines on 15 inch and above). With Windows, you can snap a window to take up half the screen, even if you only have 1 app running. With OS X, you can't snap a window to take up half the screen until you have two apps running on the same desktop.

In the end, I can get work done on either. I do prefer 15 inch for everything though. Even if you're just reading a webpage, it feels less constricting. I don't really care about a slight weight or size increase, because it really isn't a major difference. The price is the main deciding factor for me (unfortunately).

 

[kwandrews]

I did. Today, I returned my non-touchbar 13" for a 15" base model at one of our local Apple Stores. Amazingly. all 3 close by had the 15"'s in both colors and mid-level 13"'s in stock. Walked it and got it. I have other posts on the forum covering some of the reasons why.

So far, glad I made the switch. The 15" screen is VERY welcome and my eyes are thanking me! I'm adjusting to the overall size, but it's still not that big compared to older models and what we all used to carry around years ago Interestingly, the keyboard feels better on this one than my 15". It's actually a bit quieter...more like the 12" is, but still has the better gen II feel.

I haven't had a chance to stress the battery yet, but it should be okay with the larger battery vs the TB 13". The NT13" battery was easily 8-10 hours for me.

One of the issues I had with the NT13" was running Lightroom 6. It's MUCH better with the quad core (the main reason I went for the 15") and the 16G RAM.

 

[iKrl]

thanks for all of your input, I see more people here are considering moving to the 15''. And also people reversing from 15 to 13.
But I like the portability of my current 13, a lot. hmmm, gonna think a few more days about it.


thanks!

I have been struggling to decide what to do as well. I have a 2011 15" and seeing that the 2016 TB 15" has so much more power that I will never use I think I'm going to go for the 13" and put the extra $600 to better use. After extensively debating with the Apple people about this they did give me a better idea of what would suit my needs best. I will miss the 15" screen but I'm sure I'll get used to 13 inches

 

[benz240]

I had a 13" rMBP for a couple of years, and just got the 15" TB MBP. The bigger screen is nice, but not that much of an improvement over the 13" for what I do with it. I find that I like to fullscreen apps that I use a lot, which doesn't really take advantage of the larger screen real estate. Also, the speaker grills seem kind of wide, and it just seems like a lot of wasted "whitespace" around the keyboard in general. Returning to get the 13" again.

 

[Geert76]

I think I'll stick with the 13 inch, also due to the fact I am a casual user, not doing any video and photo edditing.

And save the money for another good investment.

thanks all!

 

[kwandrews]

I think I'll stick with the 13 inch, also due to the fact I am a casual user, not doing any video and photo edditing.

And save the money for another good investment.

thanks all!

Not a bad idea. If you don't need the power, then stick with 13" makes sense. I love the 13" form factor, but for 4k video editing / photos and extensive GarageBand / LogicPro X (with a DAW with multiple mics connecting through with real time monitoring), etc., I think the 15" works best for me for now (quad core is helping a lot). I'm going down to 1 Mac...the 15", no more laptop + desktop for me...for the time being.

That's why they make 12, 13 and 15 inch MacBooks/MBP's. IF I could squeeze the power I need into the 12", I'd do it in an instant. LOVE that form factor the best. Maybe someday it will be possible

 

[wheelhot]

Hmm, since this is a comparison between 13" and 15", wouldn't the 13" scaled resolution be similar to a 15" notebook?

Also, if extra screen space is needed, what about using an iPad (if the user have one) as an additional portable display?

 

[Geert76]

Hmm, since this is a comparison between 13" and 15", wouldn't the 13" scaled resolution be similar to a 15" notebook?

Also, if extra screen space is needed, what about using an iPad (if the user have one) as an additional portable display?

yeah, I do have a few iPad's here at home, but not using them much.
No, I guess I am perfectly fine with my 13inch MBP at the moment. Gonna use the few extra €€€ for another toy in the near future

 

[PaulWog]

Not a bad idea. If you don't need the power, then stick with 13" makes sense. I love the 13" form factor, but for 4k video editing / photos and extensive GarageBand / LogicPro X (with a DAW with multiple mics connecting through with real time monitoring), etc., I think the 15" works best for me for now (quad core is helping a lot). I'm going down to 1 Mac...the 15", no more laptop + desktop for me...for the time being.

That's why they make 12, 13 and 15 inch MacBooks/MBP's. IF I could squeeze the power I need into the 12", I'd do it in an instant. LOVE that form factor the best. Maybe someday it will be possible

13" and 15" are too close in price if you want 16GB of RAM ($2400 vs. $2800). And even if you don't want 16GB of RAM, in Canadian dollars it's $2170 vs. $2800. (Canadian currency)

$600 is a lot of money, but when you're already spending $2000+, the consideration becomes a lot tougher.

Which kind-of leaves me wondering why I'm even looking at Apple right now. Maybe it's just an obsession. OS X is far less productive for certain things than Windows for me. If I have a mouse, I get stuff done on Windows fast. OS X doesn't handle changing window sizes like Windows does. But on OS X, I still feel more focused when I am working... less distractions in the interface.