Quick concerns about my MBP purchase

[Ddraig]

I currently have a 13" MBP on order and it should be shipping soon, but I have been thinking about canceling the order. I went to the local Apple Store today and say a 13" and 15" side-by-side and I must say I was more impressed with the 15" than the 13" but for only two reasons.

Screen Real-Estate

Any one knows that using a large screen for an extended period of time (I have a 24" on my PC) makes anything look tiny. What I didn't like was how much room the Dock cutoff from normal screen operations. Is it possible to resize the dock or relocate it to a different position so you can make Safari or iWorks even longer (larger) on your screen?

Brightness

Now I have read that there are some concerns with the 13" and their brightness levels depending the model screen you get. Can the lower brightness quality be fixed through calibration or are you stuck with what you get?

Seats

Why doesn’t Apple but seats in their stores It’s hard to gain a true idea of which laptop fits you best when you tower over the merchandise

 

[xpipe]

re: dock concern

Just go to the dock section of System Preferences...you can resize, reposition, or even hide the dock

 

[shambo]

I currently have a 13" MBP on order and it should be shipping soon, but I have been thinking about canceling the order. I went to the local Apple Store today and say a 13" and 15" side-by-side and I must say I was more impressed with the 15" than the 13" but for only two reasons.

Screen Real-Estate

Any one knows that using a large screen for an extended period of time (I have a 24" on my PC) makes anything look tiny. What I didn't like was how much room the Dock cutoff from normal screen operations. Is it possible to resize the dock or relocate it to a different position so you can make Safari or iWorks even longer (larger) on your screen?

Brightness

Now I have read that there are some concerns with the 13" and their brightness levels depending the model screen you get. Can the lower brightness quality be fixed through calibration or are you stuck with what you get?

Seats

Why doesn’t Apple but seats in their stores It’s hard to gain a true idea of which laptop fits you best when you tower over the merchandise

15" all the way. Mate at work bought a 13" and now regrets it.

 

[Maxpilot]

You can move the Dock to any side. On mine I just have it hide which works good.

The 13 is a bright as the 15 (My daughter has the 15 and that's how I know).

Apple store? What's and Apple store? (Just kidding). We don't have one where I live so just be happy you can stand around in one.

 

[Ddraig]

The 13 is a bright as the 15 (My daughter has the 15 and that's how I know).

That's why I hope the majority outcome is but the two I was looking at today, the 15" excelled in brightness compared to the 13".

 

[isaaclimdc]

Yup, I had a similar debate with myself a few weeks ago after the MacBook Pros with SD card slots were released at WWDC. It's a tough choice, since you're paying that extra $2-300 basically for 2 more inches of screen real estate. Sure, better speakers, brightness, etc., but the main difference is that screen size.

I ended up buying the 15-incher, simply because I figured one of the things that irritated me about notebooks (I'm coming from an old 19" iMac) is the tiny 13" MacBook screen. Like the person in the previous post, I also have many friends who regretted their buys of the 13" MacBooks, and ended up spending more to buy an external monitor.

I can tell you: the 15" MBP @ 2.53 GHz is a beauty of a machine. My money super well spent.

 

[UserName]

Yup, I had a similar debate with myself a few weeks ago after the MacBook Pros with SD card slots were released at WWDC. It's a tough choice, since you're paying that extra $2-300 basically for 2 more inches of screen real estate. Sure, better speakers, brightness, etc., but the main difference is that screen size.

I ended up buying the 15-incher, simply because I figured one of the things that irritated me about notebooks (I'm coming from an old 19" iMac) is the tiny 13" MacBook screen. Like the person in the previous post, I also have many friends who regretted their buys of the 13" MacBooks, and ended up spending more to buy an external monitor.

I can tell you: the 15" MBP @ 2.53 GHz is a beauty of a machine. My money super well spent.

I don't see why there's so much hate for a 13" MBP. I myself am planning to buy one of these machines because of the price/quality. The basic model 13" @ Apple Store costs 1080euros (=1504$) while the 15" basic model (yours) costs 1550euros (= 2160$). Now that's a 700$ (or 500euro) increase just for 2" of screen and +0.5GHz. Personally I don't feel it's worth it: the 13" is really portable, is all-round when it comes to usage (except hardcore usage of Photoshop CS4 and such), it runs logic studio without a hitch (alot of DJs use it), etc...

That's just my opinion, I feel that people who bought keep protecting their products too much because of their investment, so one who has bought a 15" would despise anything lower, which is pretty sad :/.

Besides, the base is important: if later on I want to watch a movie, I'd quickly hook up the MBP to a HDTV and voila, screen size problem fixed. 15" is nice sure, but for me the 700$ price increase is NOT worth it.

Getting a refurb isn't my thing too, since the latest model has quite a few improvements, especially the battery life!

 

[Ddraig]

I can tell you: the 15" MBP @ 2.53 GHz is a beauty of a machine. My money super well spent.

Although I could purchase such a machine it really is out of my budget for what I need.

I don't see why there's so much hate for a 13" MBP. I myself am planning to buy one of these machines because of the price/quality. The basic model 13" @ Apple Store costs 1080euros (=1504$) while the 15" basic model (yours) costs 1550euros (= 2160$). Now that's a 700$ (or 500euro) increase just for 2" of screen and +0.5GHz. Personally I don't feel it's worth it: the 13" is really portable, is all-round when it comes to usage (except hardcore usage of Photoshop CS4 and such), it runs logic studio without a hitch (alot of DJs use it), etc...

I am not sure I would call it hate but for me at least there is a noticeable difference in the two screen sizes. With the knowledge of being able to mess around with resizing the dock or hiding it, it will add more considerable viewing size in the end. Plus the math is correct; I don't see the need of spending the extra $600 for 2 inches atm without first looking at a refurbished model with more features than the new 15".

 

[isaaclimdc]

Yeah, I didn't mean to express any 'hate' for the 13" MBP. I think it's a beautifully portable machine. It's as fully featured and functional as the low-end 15" MBP, and also a great deal lighter. To me personally though, screen estate is more important of a factor than portability.

 

[Ddraig]

Well I am looking some of the refurbs atm I see a 2.4GHz 15" with the 9600/9400 graphic cards for just $200 more than the new 13". The only differences between that and the 2.53Ghz being snatched up last week seems to be half the L2 cache and a graphic memory of 256 which from a different threads doesn't seem to matter much with OSX. Any horror stories with the 2.4?

 

[yaroldb]

I had a white Macbook for about 2 years. I loved it. I sold it a good friend of mine and she loves it. It was super portable, light and just fun. The 13inch screen did not bother me at all. Then I started getting serious with Photoshop and lightroom. I have a 20inch iMac at home and working with photo files on the 13inch became painful. I went to a Unibody Macbook Pro, the previous gen. The screen size was night and day. Not only is it 2 inches bigger, its higher resolution. I was able to get much more than just 2 inches out of a bigger screen.

Bottom line, it really depends on what you want to do with it. If you're just want to surf, email, movies and that kind of thing the 13inch is perfect.

Hope that helps.

 

[neteng101]

My local Apple store has stools, so you can sit while checking out the laptops and PCs. I think they were added later, but they have them now, so no more bending over.

I like the portability of the 13" but the 15" really works out nice for screen real estate, in part due to the higher resolution. I could leave with a 14" at that resolution though... I'm used to teeny text and hi-res screens in smaller sizes.

 

[Ddraig]

Bottom line, it really depends on what you want to do with it. If you're just want to surf, email, movies and that kind of thing the 13inch is perfect.

Yep, that's about it with addition to iWork.

 

[1ne]

Just don't compare the 15" and 17" side by side. . I did and return it for a 17"