MBP 13" vs 15" dilemma ??

[spmiz12]

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Ordered a 13" Pro, receiving tomorrow; but doing the second guessing game with myself. Just wonder if I would be better sending back and reorder 15" Pro... Really scared the 13's investment won't be as good as the 15.... I order the 13", 4GB, 250GB drive; but been looking at 15", 4GB, 320 GB unit..... Outside of screen size; would I notice a great difference with the 15".... Please help..

 

[MacsOnAnabolics]

This all comes down to the type of activities you will be doing (i.e. photoshop, safari, final cut, logic...). The 15" outperforms the 13" in many ways. The 13" has an outdated cpu and graphics card. Although, you should be perfectly fine with the performance of the 13" just as long as the type of work you are doing isn't too graphic or cpu intensive.

 

[alust2013]

This all comes down to the type of activities you will be doing (i.e. photoshop, safari, final cut, logic...). The 15" outperforms the 13" in many ways. The 13" has an outdated cpu and graphics card. Although, you should be perfectly fine with the performance of the 13" just as long as the type of work you are doing isn't too graphic or cpu intensive.

Let me add to this by saying that even with heavy processing and graphics (which most people don't do), the difference won't be mind-blowing. Another thing to think about is that computers really are never a good investment. Even if you go top of the line, their resale only goes down with time.

 

[miata]

The 15" base model is about $500 more than the 13" base model. With $500 you can buys a nice set of SSD drives and even RAID 0 them together to get mind blowing performance. Unless you know that your workload is CPU bound this is a nice strategy.

The other big differences are screen resolution, weight and battery life, but it sounds like they are not important considerations for you.

 

[vant]

This all comes down to the type of activities you will be doing (i.e. photoshop, safari, final cut, logic...). The 15" outperforms the 13" in many ways. The 13" has an outdated cpu and graphics card. Although, you should be perfectly fine with the performance of the 13" just as long as the type of work you are doing isn't too graphic or cpu intensive.

The GPU is new. It is the fastest integrated GPU on the market.

The CPU isn't bad. The C2D 2.4 is a great performer, which is why the MBA (released last month) has pretty much the same CPU.

 

[miata]

You can also upgrade to 8 GB of RAM which is only about $150 for reliable after market sources like OWC.

 

[farmermac]

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Ordered a 13" Pro, receiving tomorrow; but doing the second guessing game with myself. Just wonder if I would be better sending back and reorder 15" Pro... Really scared the 13's investment won't be as good as the 15.... I order the 13", 4GB, 250GB drive; but been looking at 15", 4GB, 320 GB unit..... Outside of screen size; would I notice a great difference with the 15".... Please help..

screen resolution makes a huge difference. I had a 13" and it is the reason I upgraded. For work, 1680x1050 works extremely well. 1280x800 is way too cramped. I found myself resizing windows all the time and scrolling a lot.

 

[maflynn]

Aside from the core i5 vs. the c2d argument. I think the 13" MBP is a great machine that can run the software without any issues/performance degradation.

Back in 08, I opted for a 15" unibody MBP as opposed to the 13" because the GPU was better, but I found out later I could have gotten the 13" The 13" model offers a great balance of performance and size. I'd say be content with your order and enjoy your new baby

 

[dmk1974]

I actually went from a 15" i5 MBP to a 13" C2D MBP combined with a 27" monitor. Overall, still cost me less money plus it gives me enough power and better portability when I need it along with a huge monitor when I'm parked at my desk.

 

[fsumom]

I'm completely happy with my MBP 13".

 

[maratus]

I went from 15" to 13" and now only consider buying 15" in future. I thought 13" to be more portable but I was trying to fool myself 2kg and huge screen bezel makes it feel almost like 15" without horsepower and screen real estate. 1280x800 is joke and screen is too small. Now I decided that If you want portability, go with Air. And again, If you want normal laptop then go with 15". Price is big advantage of 13" MBP, but I'm feeling nervous after spending > half of its price on 240Gb SSD Overall, given its weight and even footprint, I can't consider portability as advantage.

 

[Luba]

Can't think of this as an investment . . . it's consumption, and with that in mind I would buy based on features you want or need, not on "valuable" features.

13" MBP has low rez, too bad it doesn't have the rez of the new 13 MBA. Compared to 15 MBP, it's lighter and has a better battery life based on casual conversations with other MBP users. I have the 15 and can say I wouldn't be happy if I had to carry this everyday or use it in cramped quarters like on an airplane. I forget the difference, perhaps it's a pound, but IMO it's a significant difference. For carrying everyday I would be very happy with MBA and would just plan on doing video editing with desktop. If you're doing just web and Office, then getting the 15 is just for the extra screen size.