Please help me with a choice

[The Unseen]

Hi all,
a friend of mine made me a proposal : an equal exchange of our macbook Pro.
Mine is a mid 2012 13'' i5 2.5 ghz with 8Gb of Ram, his is a late 2011 15'' hi res i7 2.2 ghz with 4 gb of Ram, and a 6750 with 512mb of video memory. He needs more portability, so the 15 has become a little too big and heavy to carry around all day.
I use my Macbook mainly with Photoshop, Lightroom, Pages, and obviously a ton of Safari and chrome tabs. I carry it around but not very much, sometimes i use it in clamshell mode and sometimes with dual monitor.
Do you think that the discrete graphic card really makes a difference? I am mainly satisfied with my macbook, only i suffer for the very low resolution that limits me for example when i write articles for my blog, because working with the browser near Pages is very uncomfortable. I would like to try the bigger screen and the power of quad core (even if sandy bridge) and the discrete graphic card, but is really more powerful?
sorry for my english ad thanks

 

[The Unseen]

anyone?

 

[prisstratton]

Okay, here is my 2¢ worth.

I think that this is a PLUS situation for you and here are my reasons:

1. Greater processing power (dual core vs. quad core)
2. Discrete graphics and higher resolution.
3. Larger screen

All of the above will be a definite plus if you are a big Photoshop user.

Some Con's:

1. Lower RAM, but this is an easy upgrade and cheap to do
2. Warranty, do you both have AppleCare or not ??

As far as portability is concerned I do not think it is a consideration. Although, you may think differently (but, I carry around my 17" and think nothing of it).

You can check the specifications (and benchmark) of each model here:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/index-macbookpro.html

One thing you did not mention was what type of storage is being used in each system, i.e. HDD or SSD.

To answer your last question…..yes, it is really more powerful.

If the specifications regarding storage and warranty are the same or similar then this would be a cost effective deal for you......hope it helps.

 

[GermanyChris]

you've not traded yet?

 

[The Unseen]

Thanks for your replies, I also think that it is a good transaction for me, but it is always nice to read opinions from other people.
As far as I am concerned, the fact that the 15" is less portable is not an issue, because I don't carry it around very often.
Both warranties will expire in a month (in Italy, when a company buys something, warranty expires in a year).
The Hard disk is the same in size and speed (500 Gb, 5400 rpm).
Definitely I think I will make the change.