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Macbook Pro 13'' vs 15''

I

imrahil

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2014
2
0
Hey, I'm about to buy a new retina MBP. My choices are:

1)13'', 2.8GHz Dual i5, 16GB ram, 512GB flash storage
2)15'', 2.2GHz Quad i7, 16GB ram, 256GB flash storage

The price is basically the same. I can't afford more than this.

I intend to use this for general school/work purposes. The heaviest software I will probably use is Photoshop (light work), MATLAB and maybe some industrial simulation software. I do a little bit of gaming as well (minecraft mainly), but I'm not a gamer at all.

What do you guys suggest?
Thanks
 
imrahil said:
Hey, I'm about to buy a new retina MBP. My choices are:

1)13'', 2.8GHz Dual i5, 16GB ram, 512GB flash storage
2)15'', 2.2GHz Quad i7, 16GB ram, 256GB flash storage

The price is basically the same. I can't afford more than this.

I intend to use this for general school/work purposes. The heaviest software I will probably use is Photoshop (light work), MATLAB and maybe some industrial simulation software. I do a little bit of gaming as well (minecraft mainly), but I'm not a gamer at all.

What do you guys suggest?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Based on your use, both will be sufficient.

So the real question here is - Screen Real Estate vs. SDD Real Estate.
 
While the 13" may be fine, the bigger screen of the 15" will provide for less eye strain and easier to edit in Photoshop. You can use an external drive to store your work - especially your photos, since Photoshop PSD's can take up a lot of space.
 
If you want portability go with the 13" ... At home or office you can always setup and external screen. I personally run two 22" screens in my home office with my 13" rMBP. If you can visit a Apple store and see a 13" and 15" in person...

It comes down to what you're comfortable with. I'm a programmer and love working on a 13" screens where as other programmers will swear by demand that a 15" be the minimum screen size. Get what works for you, and not what is popular.
 
Purchased than upgraded my 13 inch Pro for a 15 inch a few months later for the added real estate. I have older eyes that needed the larger screen
 
Another vote for the 15" - the extra screen space far outweighs the greater storage of the 13". And there are a lot of external storage solutions that are much less expensive than bumping the storage on the 15" to 512 GB.
 
imrahil said:
What about speed? Is it actually negligible?
Click to expand...

The only thing the 13" has going for it is the portability and SSD space. 15" gives you screen real estate, significantly more CPU power and significantly more GPU power.

Personally, my vote is for the 15". Considering the whole package, once you spec up the 13" at that point the 15" offers more bang for the buck.(Only because the 512 SSD is so expensive)

With that said, for your use case, the power difference is moot.
 
Last edited:
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