Mac Book Pro 13 vs 15

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Dylanlewis2000

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Dylan
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Hi All

Im after a new laptop. It must be reasonably fast, with good battery life, and portable. My searches have led me to the Mac Book Pros. I was all set on the 13" however after having a play with the 15" im not too sure.

I had a play with both the 13 and the 15 last night in PC World and just felt that the 15 had slightly better battery life, however there could be a number of different factors with this.

Is there much advantage for the 13 over the 15 or the other way around. I used to have 15" laptops ages ago but found them a bit big, and found a 13 quite a nice size, however i do like the extra screen resolution of the 15.

I must add i have vouchers to spend so they must be used either in Currys or PC World. I am open to offers too so if there is anything else you think may fit my bill please contribute!
 
Only difference is the screen.

How did you determine the battery life based on a play with them in PC World? My 13" has fantastic battery life.
 
I'd also go for the 13" for pure portability!
 
Dman said:
Only difference is the screen.

How did you determine the battery life based on a play with them in PC World? My 13" has fantastic battery life.
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They were both at 100% i unplugged them at the same time, opened safari, and played a quicktime movie, opened text edit and started typing.

The 15 seemed to cope better. The 13 reported 4 hours battery life whereas the 15 was reporting 6.

Whats the life like on your machines? The only thing putting me off, my mate said that the mac books run really warm when playing flash videos like youtube stuff. Is this correct?
 
I'd go for the 15" for the larger screen. I actually have a 17" macbook pro and don't find it too much to lug around. I remember Wail in a conundrum about which model to buy 15 or 17 about 6 months ago and after plenty of umming and erring decided on the 17. You really cannot beat screen size especially with this hobby. The 13" screen is just too small in my opinion.

13" screen

1280x800

15" screen

1440x900 + optional anti glare coating !

No brainer if you can afford the extra.

Oh as for the battery, the WHITE 13" model has a 5 hour battery whilst the unibody 13 and 15 both have 7 hour batteries. There is no discernible difference between them. The power remaining is a guess based on amount of charge at that time. The maximum charge builds up over the first week or two so it may be that the 13" was brand new whilst the 15" had been there a month. After a couple of weeks of use they settle down.

Don't forget to have a look at the top tips thread.

And as for temperature... Yes they do get a little warm but the entire body is acting as a heat sink so it is sharing out the heat around the whole computer. Most cheap laptops don't and end up with hot spots which can cause problems down the line. Just use a laptop pad if it is on your lap and if it is on a table don't worry. Read my tip about Applecare and buy that from Ireland!
 
its probably not going to be my main machine as i have a quad core machine to do lots of processing. I want it to be small enough to take on holiday and walk around with it.
 
Have just gone from a two year old 15.4" to a new 13.3"; yes, when editing in PS you do notice the difference in terms of work area, but budget determined a smaller, lighter model that will easily sit on your plane tray table or whatever! I recommend (without prejudice) the SPECK soft shell case to protect it - available through Amazon
 
Judging by what you just said I would go for the 13" everytime, I have the new unibody macbook pro and it is superb.
I sit here with 5:20 left on the battery and I have been using it for about 40 minutes!

Seriously, they are expensive but when you get one you will realize why and you won't settle for less in the future.
Is this your first Mac?
 
Woodsie said:
Judging by what you just said I would go for the 13" everytime, I have the new unibody macbook pro and it is superb.
I sit here with 5:20 left on the battery and I have been using it for about 40 minutes!

Seriously, they are expensive but when you get one you will realize why and you won't settle for less in the future.
Is this your first Mac?
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It will be my first proper mac, i have had a old mac mini which was slow and not really much good.
 
stp23 said:
the 15" macbook pro's can be spec'd to have a separate graphic's card, which is useful when editing photo's
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The 2.66GHz model has the faster 9600M GT / 9600M combination but that model is £1499 rather than the £1299 of the 2.53GHz model which has just the 9600M. The reality is that the difference in speed will be virtually unnoticable the increase in speed of the faster graphics processor may be a bonus with some software that takes that into account BUT it will most likely not be really noticeable in photoshop and other applications like that.
 
I have the older 13" book and its great for carrying round but sometimes its just a bit too small! I'd be tempted to go for the middle ground and get the 15"

Btw a macbook will be the best purchase you will ever make! ;)
 
Be careful when comparing 15 and 13" macbooks in PC World. In my store we still have one of the old 13" Unibody Macbooks next to a new 13" and a new 15" Macbooks. The old ones have replaceable batteries whilst the new ones obviously have the newer built in batteries. You might have been able to tell the difference (easy way is the old ones are MacBook and the new ones are MacBook Pro), but just in case :)

Personally, for me it comes down to what's more important to you, screen size or portability? Both are easily portable, but I've really got used to the 13.3" screens now and worry that the 15" would be too bulky in comparison.
 
Na these were both the new models. The one thing that did puzzel me was that they did have Leopard on them and not Snow Leopard. Are all the macs like this?
 
In PC world they will be, they will get the stock in then have to sell it, so it may not always be the newest, whereas buying direct from Apple you will get the latest stuff, as when a new model/spec comes along everything else tends to go through the refurb store.
 
i got a nice insurance replacement voucher which has to be used in pc world or currys you see.
 
Dylanlewis2000 said:
i got a nice insurance replacement voucher which has to be used in pc world or currys you see.
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When you go in don't mention the voucher. Get the best deal you can then hand them the voucher. If they know about the voucher they know you are a captive audience. Get the best prices you can printed out then walk in with them and see what they can do. Make the decision yourself deciding which is most important screen size or portability. I had a 12" iBook and a 17" macbook pro because I wanted both but found that the 12" rarely got used and I sold it. The 15" is still easily lugaboutable.
 
Im in two minds wether i should wait untill christmas to buy it as there may be better deals around then, is there anything that i need to buy with them?
 
I chose the 15in as its ideal for sports. 13 was a bit too small for me and 17 too bulky too carry round. If it wasn't for doing sports i'd go for a 17 everytime. Only downside to the new Macbooks is the gloss screen, not ideal for editing

Edit

Hi Dylan i would pick up a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, then you can plug into a large standalone screen for editing. You will need a dvi to mini dvi adaptor though
 
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