Switching from a 15″ MacBook Pro to a 13″ MacBook Pro
June 29, 2009 by Michael Kaye
They say bigger is better but maybe that doesn’t count if you’re hauling around an extra pound in your bag or backpack every day!
I have been using a MacBook Pro 15 inch for some time now, and before that I had the PowerBook 15 inch which the form factor was nearly identical to. So you could say I was fairly content to the feel, fit and size of a 15 inch MacBook.
When Apple introduced the new MacBook Pro 13″ I finally decided to “downgrade” to the 13″ model… or was it really a downgrade?
I don’t want to get into a bunch of specs here because in my opinion for the average user a few extra Gigahertz or Megabytes or whatever else gets thrown into the latest and greatest rendition isn’t going to really make that much of an overall difference.
What I want to talk about mostly is form factor, and if at the end of the day I am able to do what I was able to do on my compact 13 inch vs the 15 inch MacBook then why not shed a few bucks and a few pounds along the way?
Desktop Size:
The 13 inch has a resolution of 1280 x 800, while the 15 inch has a resolution of 1440 x 900. Yes there is a noticeable difference. For the most part when I need to do my “heavy lifting” I do it at home in my office where I have an external monitor hooked up and so the small amount of real-estate I lost on my MacBook Pro 13 side of things is not a problem as I have all I the desktop space I need on my external monitor.
When out and about I have acclimatized to having a bit less room on my desktop for all my open windows but the beauty of OS X Leopard is how well Expose and Spaces can make even a small screen very productive.
Physical Size:
There is an obvious difference in size and weight. I do really like the feel of the new MacBook Pro 13″, it’s very solid and looks amazing with its solid aluminum chassis. And even though its only a pound lighter I find myself making sure I do in fact have my laptop in my bag when I head out!
Performance:
I know I said I didn’t want to get to into all the specs and stuff, but as a bit of a power user it does have some bearing on my overall opinion. I went from a 2.5 GHz MacBook Pro (non-unibody) to the latest and greatest 13 inch MacBook Pro. I have to say it is surprisingly snappier and faster, possibly due to the faster DDR3 1000MHz Ram, whatever the case it flies!
Compared to its 2.53 GHz 15 inch unibody brother, the new MacBook Pro 13 inch is very comparable with the only real difference being screen size and the the 13 inch model missing an audio-in jack. I generally use a USB or FireWire audio interface/headset when doing audio recording or audio/video chat.
Price:
Again comparing the 13 inch and 15 inch 2.53GHz MacBooks there is a saving of $200 when you purchase the 13 inch model over the 15 inch MacBook Pro.
Summary:
At the end of the day I easily acclimatized myself to the smaller screen size with less real-estate. I thoroughly enjoy the smaller and lighter form factor while saving a few bucks and I have a MacBook Pro with “0″ performance compromises! If you’re on the go and want the ultimate in portability and performance than this is the machine for you.
If your a home body and maybe don’t have or plan on getting a secondary monitor then pay the extra the extra cash and buy the 15 or 17 inch MacBook Pro.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not really sure what the over all point of this post is. That going down to a 13″ model is better or cheaper, or that overall, they are about the same. Going down to a 13″ gives you one less pound of weight and a $200 savings. When we are talking about $1,700 vrs. $1,500, $200 isn’t really all that much of a discount really.
Now, I suppose you could take the $200 and buy a decent sized monitor to use when at home (assuming you don’t already have one) or a very large backup hard drive.
Otherwise, I really don’t see the benefit of “downsizing” to a 13″.
I would like to add that I agree almost completely with your synopsis. Although I do not own a 15″, only the 13″, my son does have the 15″ so I have also been able to do some comparisons.
My son uses his 15″ as his main computer, he has no Mac Pro nor an iMac… for him I believe there is no question that the more powerful 15″ is the right choice.
I use my 13″ for basics… I surf the web, get email. I take it on trips… the size and weight are perfect for this. While away I’ll use it to save photo’s and video which I transfer to my Mac Pro when I get home.
If anything I have found that my 13″ is quite capable of a lot more than I actually use it for. - JamesJM
I’m not certain about this, but i’ve heard the audio jack is an in and out jack in one. I cant confirm this though, as I have last year’s unibody 13″ (with both jacks).