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Macbook Pro 15" vs 17"

D

darfel

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 2, 2007
76
1
NorCal
I'm planning on purchasing a new Macbook Pro 15 or 17 when/if new models are announced at Macworld. I want the high end video card like the 15" w/256MB Nvidia. The price difference between the 15" and 17" is only $300 dollars, so that's not the issue. The issue is the over all size of the 17".

Has anyone purchased a 15" and later wished/purchased a 17"?

I will be primarily using my MBP for photography, work, school and normal misc stuff.


Thanks,

darfel
 
I've never owned the 17" but I did face the same situation. I chose the 15". I like it a lot, it's the same power but slightly more portable. So if you won't move much, go with the 17" since you like photography stuff. I usually hook up to an external display while home, so thats an option too.
 
I nearly went with the 17", but after testing both out at a store, I found the 15" to be better. For the price, the 17" is really not that much bigger, but it is more cumbersome to carry around. 15" has a large screen, is lighter, and much easier to carry.
 
I've got the 17" Matte, it is very good for photoshop and lightroom, i easily use all of the screen real estate. I can't imagine how much better it looks now that they have the 1920x1200 BTO.
 
Portability is a key feature for me, so I opted for the 15". I use a 23" ACD as the primary screen when I can work in my office at home.
 
From what I understand the 17 inch is bigger than the 15 inch.. so what I would do is decide if I want a big one or a smaller one. Then just go from there.
 
Cliff3 said:
Portability is a key feature for me, so I opted for the 15". I use a 23" ACD as the primary screen when I can work in my office at home.
Click to expand...

When you use your ACD with your MBP, how do the colors render between the two displays or do you use the ACD as your only display?
 
I use them both, but the MBP display is a secondary screen in that scenario. I might park dialogs there, or my slingplayer window. I don't attempt to align the two to simulate a larger screen. Both screens are hardware color calibrated.
 
The multi-display setup works great, I personally will be getting a 24" Dell for Final Cut Pro, and the occational Unreal Tournament match. I probably wouldn't need to do this if I had the new HR MBP. Screen real estate is about pixels more than display size. The 24" dell, and 23" Apple Cinema Display have the exact same amount of pixels as the new 17" HR MBP.

Attached is a Multi display MBP setup, although it is a 17" and a 30", it gives you a good idea of what the setup will look like in your room.
 

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    17 vs 30.jpg
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marioman38 said:
The multi-display setup works great, I personally will be getting a 24" Dell for Final Cut Pro, and the occational Unreal Tournament match. I probably wouldn't need to do this if I had the new HR MBP. Screen real estate is about pixels more than display size. The 24" dell, and 23" Apple Cinema Display have the exact same amount of pixels as the new 17" HR MBP.

Attached is a Multi display MBP setup, although it is a 17" and a 30", it gives you a good idea of what the setup will look like in your room.
Click to expand...

You have a point about the pixels. Thanks.
 
I can personally testify to the following:

The high resolution 17" MacBook Pro suffers greatly from uneven illumination. Looking at this particular model in two different Apple Store, there's clearly a darker part of the screen mostly on the right side in the mid-section of the display.

On the standard resolution 17" MacBook Pro, the display is much more evenly lit.

There is slight backlight leakage at the bottom of the screen, which is more noticeable on the high resolution.

On the 15" screen, there's the yellow tint issue, although, I have only been able to notice this on one floor model and I think they have since removed it from the floor display.

Both 15" and 17" models both have the tendency to have audio hiss and random crackle/R2D2 sound effects from the headphone port but the intensity of it varies greatly from model to model.
 
Most of my work is graphics design and photography. What works well for me is the 15" MBP for portability, then a Dell 2407 wfp-hc at home AND at work. That way I can actually see the pictures.:D
 
bijou said:
Most of my work is graphics design and photography. What works well for me is the 15" MBP for portability, then a Dell 2407 wfp-hc at home AND at work. That way I can actually see the pictures.:D
Click to expand...

What are you doing/using about calibrating between three displays?
 
DHagan4755 said:
I can personally testify to the following:

The high resolution 17" MacBook Pro suffers greatly from uneven illumination. Looking at this particular model in two different Apple Store, there's clearly a darker part of the screen mostly on the right side in the mid-section of the display.

On the standard resolution 17" MacBook Pro, the display is much more evenly lit.

There is slight backlight leakage at the bottom of the screen, which is more noticeable on the high resolution.

On the 15" screen, there's the yellow tint issue, although, I have only been able to notice this on one floor model and I think they have since removed it from the floor display.

Both 15" and 17" models both have the tendency to have audio hiss and random crackle/R2D2 sound effects from the headphone port but the intensity of it varies greatly from model to model.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. How long ago did you experience these problem with the displays? Is it possible they've corrected these issues?
 
i had exactly the same dilemma as you did.

15 or 17...

I had an iMac 24" that it was replacing and wanted to do final cut and photography, web design etc... I also have a Blackbook which is amazing. it is just the right size for taking out and about however not brilliant for photoshops and photo editing etc...

I realised I wanted to have good portability etc and the 17 was possibly too big. I then thought because the MBP has a good graphics card that can power a 30" monitor I shouldn't worry about screen size of the laptop, but get an external monitor.

The setup I have now is a 15" glossy and a 23" ACD which is absolutely fantastic - I couldn't be more happier about it. FCP looks wicked on it as does photoshopping on the external display which I set as my main display and have other utilities on the MBP display as secondary.

I pondered for ages about this but now am chuffed to bits. The 15" is good for portability and when I am at home I just plug the monitor in with the firewire and USB cables, keyboard, wireless mouse all in the back of the monitor.

Get the 15 and get an external monitor - you have the best of both worlds then. I found the 17" text a little too small, especially when using pro aps with their small text
 
steve77uk said:
when I am at home I just plug the monitor in with the firewire and USB cables, keyboard, wireless mouse all in the back of the monitor.
Click to expand...
How much of a pain is this?

I have a Dell Latitude laptop which has a very convenient docking station (you literally just pop it in or pop it out). My concern with the Macbook Pro vs. the Dell is that it might be a pain to hook and un-hook all the plugs & cables every time you dock or un-dock the laptop -- which in my case is quite often since I work from home.
 
The hi-res screen is gorgeous, and the 17" iMac is ridiculously thin/small for what it is...go look at other 17" laptops on the market and they're beasts in comparison. But I still find the dimensions of it too big to bring around...get the 15" if you plan on moving around with it ever. If it will always be in your home, it's a no-brainer....for the extra money it's definitely worth it.
 
queshy said:
If it will always be in your home, it's a no-brainer....for the extra money it's definitely worth it.
Click to expand...
The footprint size should be taken into consideration. Working from home I don't go out with my laptop very often (only for vacation travel, etc)... but I do move around the house quite a bit. I discovered that footprint size does matter in that case. But if the laptop stays in the exact same spot most of the time, I agree... might as well go for the gusto! :)
 
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