Macbook Pro 13 or 15?

[GamingGiraffe]

So basically, I'm starting University in september and I'm going to need a laptop to take with me. Having already had a Macbook Pro in the past I'm aware of just how good they are, the only problem with my old one was that it was pre-retina so it only had 4Gb of ram, a 1280x800 screen and a 5400rpm drive. I like the portability of the 13" but, having a 4770k based gaming machine I'm not quite sure if I could cope. Just wanted to ask opinions on getting the 15 or 13? it'll be used for programming and maybe some light video editing, depends if I take my PC or not.

[W-L]

So basically, I'm starting University in september and I'm going to need a laptop to take with me. Having already had a Macbook Pro in the past I'm aware of just how good they are, the only problem with my old one was that it was pre-retina so it only had 4Gb of ram, a 1280x800 screen and a 5400rpm drive. I like the portability of the 13" but, having a 4770k based gaming machine I'm not quite sure if I could cope. Just wanted to ask opinions on getting the 15 or 13? it'll be used for programming and maybe some light video editing, depends if I take my PC or not.

 

What's your budget since the starting price for the 15 inch is quite higher than the 13 inch but gives you the setup up to an quad core i7 instead of a dual core i5.

[GamingGiraffe]

I have a budget of about £1350, which is enough in my country to get the base 15" pro because I get student discount.

What's your budget since the starting price for the 15 inch is quite higher than the 13 inch but gives you the setup up to an quad core i7 instead of a dual core i5.

[Hspasta]

Depends on what you want, power vs portability. I recently bought the base model for the 13 inch and I can't complain about its performance though.

[GamingGiraffe]

Depends on what you want, power vs portability. I recently bought the base model for the 13 inch and I can't complain about its performance though.

What do you do on it?? I did love the portability, I'm just worried about the difference between my PC and the dual core is all.

[W-L]

Well comparing the two base model if you want the extra processing power and slightly better Iris Pro graphics it will helps in render if you do video editing, but for the 15 inch you lose a couple hours of battery life due to the more power processor, (8 instead of 10 hours)

[GamingGiraffe]

Oh, I loved that battery life. I'm swaying towards the 15, Its just, the extra £500 is a lot of extra hours for me.

[CameronDSetty]

So basically, I'm starting University in september and I'm going to need a laptop to take with me. Having already had a Macbook Pro in the past I'm aware of just how good they are, the only problem with my old one was that it was pre-retina so it only had 4Gb of ram, a 1280x800 screen and a 5400rpm drive. I like the portability of the 13" but, having a 4770k based gaming machine I'm not quite sure if I could cope. Just wanted to ask opinions on getting the 15 or 13? it'll be used for programming and maybe some light video editing, depends if I take my PC or not.

You could upgrade the ram, put an SSD and use the hard drive externally. And maybe get an external display to use with it. Thats a little more complicated but its what I would do.

[CameronDSetty]

But if you dont want to I would get the 13, 15 is just a little big to carry around. 

[vembutech]

13 inch wil be good. 

[alpenwasser]

I was just recently faced with the same decision. In the end, the larger screen estate

and the quadcore made me sway towards the 15" when I noticed that with the student

discount it just about fell within my budget (make sure to find out if you're eligible

for that, saved me ~130 GBP).

In the end, I consider it to be a long-term purchase, so the 15" model being a few

hundred more expensive doesn't make that much of a difference if it's spread out over

a few years. As long as you can utilise the benefits the 15" model provides and can

live with the downsides (larger, heavier, shorter battery life), the additional cost,

while hurting in the short run, might still be worth it (it is for me, at least).

Not that the 13" model wouldn't be perfectly adequate for most things, of course.

I would say that 13" is about the perfect form factor for a notebook, but this time

the 15" just offered enough benefits to deviate from that (I originally wanted to

get the 13" model).

[Hspasta]

What do you do on it?? I did love the portability, I'm just worried about the difference between my PC and the dual core is all.

Just dev work. No video editing and no gaming though. If there was one thing I wish I would have upgrade, it would have been RAM. OS X does a lot of caching and it's gone to use swap (very little) without me pushing it too hard.