13" or 15" MacBook Pro

Student Lounge College Life
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So I’m moving into college as a freshman in about a week and my Uncle is wanting to get me a MacBook as a graduation gift. I’m torn between choosing either the 13" or 15" MBP. There’s pros and cons to both of them which is why Im having a hard time deciding.

I’m leaning a little more towards the 15" because it has more power than the 13" and having a bigger screen is nice to work with in Logic Pro X to produce music. However, I’m afraid the size could be a little annoying to fit on desks and carry around to classes and whatnot. If anyone knows from experience, are 15" laptops able to fit on desks especially the tiny fold out desks in auditorium/lecture hall type classrooms and are they small enough to fit in backpacks?

On the other hand, the reasons why I might consider choosing the 13" are because I know for a fact it would fit in a larger range of backpacks than the 15" making it more portable. But, I’m worried about it feeling too small and ending up wishing I had gone with the larger option. Also I think this option has less USB-c ports which could be an issue because I have a bunch of accessories I use like my midi keyboard and audio interface.

The obvious solution would be to go to an Apple Store and see them for myself but I can’t really find time as move in day is 6 days away and the closest store is at a mall like 2 hours from me. So I figured trying to find people that have experience with MBP as a college laptop would be my safest bet. So does anyone know which option is more convienient for a college student? I am very indecisive when it comes to this sort of thing.

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We have a 12" Macbook, and both a 13" and 15" MBP. IMO the big difference is the 16GB of ram on the 15" MBP. Logic Pro X will be fine on either the 13 or 15, but if you have a lot of virtual instruments and plug-ins you will want the 15". I would lean toward the 13" for something you carry around all day but the extra RAM is essential. If it were me I would custom order the 13" with 16Gb and 512GB disk. The extra $300 for the touch bar model is better put toward an external monitor. Going with the 15" will add about $600 to the price. Applecare is worth getting, and if he pays with a major credit card, you will get an additional 1-2yrs of warranty.

Neither the 13" or 15" have a lot of screen space. You are much better off getting an external monitor (I bought a 40" 4K Samsung TV for $400) which gives you 4-6x more real estate than the laptop alone (and is great for cheering on your football or basketball team for away games)

At my university the lecture desks are pretty small, so the 12" or 13" is better. You might prefer an iPad for note taking which is much more appropriately sized. We use the 12" for travel and notes because of the light weight (2 lbs) and because it can powered by an external USB-C batter, the 13" is only 1 lb. heavier and is probably the best compromise for a student.

If you are in engineering or CS I would probably get the 15", however.