13" or 15" and which variation?

Hi all,

I am new to Apple, never owned one before. I am strongly considering purchasing a new MBP in the next few weeks, but thought I would get some input on size and spec from you all.

I am a student. I am studying law so in that respect I am not concerned with video editing or anything. I will use the laptop both at home and at school. I will download music, surf, stream video to my ps3 and all the normal stuff that we do with our computers. I just recently purchased last years Sony Vaio Z, which as I'm sure most of you know is 13". The weight is incredible, but I am not overly pleased with the laptop itself, nor Sony's handling of some of the problems I'm having, but I digress. My last laptop was a 14" Dell, just so you know where I'm coming from with the size.

ANYWAY! Which would you recommend for someone like me? 13"? 15"? Which spec of each/either would you suggest? I find the 13" Z to be a bit hard on the eyes, but I suspect that is largely because of its resolution (1600x900).

I was considering the 13" prior, but the new updates make it seem less appealing and made me look at the 15" models which I had, for some reason, ignored previously.

edit: and I apologize if this isn't quite as exciting as the numerous threads discussing the pros and cons of the new updates.

 

Id toss this in the WNSIB forum and fill out the form, we can help you much better there.

alot of it depends on what you will be running software wise and how portable you like. You could always just hit an apple store or best buy and take a look as well... most of this is personal preference.

 

Oh, my apologies. I just thought people in here may have some insight. I will try and post one in there in a bit.

 

No worries, personally I say 15" as the refreshed 13" seems to be the biggest joke of the day.

 

Im starting to lean that way, I just realized that the 15" weighs about half a pound less than my 14" dell, and I had no problems lugging it around. Don't see many downsides going with the 15

 

Neither they are both a disappointment the only good thing is the 8 -10 hour battery life. Much better specs in rivals for much cheaper.

 

Quite agreed but he did specify the MBP 13 or 15 here. Personally I like the thinkpads and the ASUS U and UL series

 

Get the 15inch, stay far far away from the 13inch. The 15 inch with the high res screen is pretty good.

 

Thank you for the advice. I think I have decided on the higher res screen, now I just need to decide between the glossy and the anti-glare. Decisions decisions.

 

If you're in law school then you're probably reading a lot of documents on the thing, so I'd pay the extra 150 bucks for the non-glossy. I

BTW can you tell me what your issue with the Sony Z was? I have somewhat similar usage pattern to you it seems, and at this point I'm looking at both the latest i5 versions of 15" Mac and the Sony Z. So am curious as it it seems you had a bad experience with the Sony.

 

Well, for one thing the size of the icons/fonts and such are exceptionally small on the 1600x900 screen. The screen itself is gorgeous, it is kind of a hybrid between glossy and matte.

The unit I got was last years Z model Sony Canada was selling off. They had it listed on the website as having a 2.80ghz C2D, when I received it it had a 2.53ghz processor. I called Sony and they were offering me $50 which I didn't find sufficient considering they charge $240 to do that upgrade. After some contemplation I was willing to just take the $50 and live with it. I then tried to burn my first dvd only to realize that the burner in my unit is defective. So I called Sony to say that I needed to exchange the laptop (they had another in stock), but they said if I did that I would not get the $50 refund. All of which made NO sense to me, but I digress.

So after talking to some friends who are big fans of Apple I decided I would try the swap. I am approaching my summer break period so I figured now was as good a time as any.

 

It doesn't seem like you need any of the power that comes from an i5, so you would be just fine with at 13" MBP to be honest. But if you want the best bang for your buck go with the 15". The 15" may be thin and light, but it takes up a good amount of surface area, I would suggest you consider that as well. Hope this helps.

 

Hi Stunner,
I agree that I likely don't need the extended power of the i5, and if I were to get the 15" I would likely go with the "low end" one. Although, when configured with the same HDD the 2.53 is only $50 more.
Good note about the surface area it would take up. My last laptop was a dell 14" and was somewhere in between the 13" and 15" Mac. It actually weighs more than the 15", but that isnt really the issue.
Who knows!

 

I have the 15" and was thinking that I would take it to class with me relatively often, but its just too big to use on those tiny college class desks. So I rarely take it to class and much prefer taking my 14.1" T60 due solely to its size. See if you have a friend that has a 15"(any model really) and see if he/she is cool with you working on it a bit. Either that or go to the Apple Store. Definitely check it out in person before making the purchase! Good luck.

 

I guess it depends on your preferences, but I can't work very well on screens smaller than 15icnhes. Its just too cramped and I can't work without a certain amount of screen real estate. I also find 15inch is perfect for taking to class or work, while 13inch is better suited for the car or on a plane, I'm much more productive on a 15 inch or bigger. But then again I also have a 17inch sager I take around with me and I think thats mobile enough for me. I'm just used to big screens I guess, I find it really hard to do actual work (outside of web surfing/email) on a 13inch screen. I do have a year half 13inch macbook I use when I travel or when I need long battery life. I couldn't imagine that being my only computer and having to work on it though.

Also a higher resolution is always better, as you can adjust the font size in any modern operating system. Overall a higher resolution will be crisper and you will have a lot more room to work.