<p>I'm buying a MacBook Pro for college and I'm deciding between a 13" and 15" screen. Which would be better?</p>
<p>I go to a school where the majority of students have MacBook Pros, although I myself have a 13" Windows ultrabook. Almost every single person has the 13". No one has the 17" (I think I saw one person with one). A few have the 15" but wish they had the 13" because of the size. If you’re going to carry it with you all day, every pound makes a difference. Also, some desks in college are small- the 13" is more ideal. Why not get a MacBook Air though?</p>
<p>I would definitely go with the 13-inch - much easier to transport. Although people at my campus have laptops of all shapes and sizes, and I’ve definitely seen a lot of people with 15-inch screens.</p>
<p>^I agree that 13’’ is more portable.</p>
<p>However, I, personally, am a multi/power-tasker, and typically keep two windows open, and when I have Firefox open I will usually have 10+ tabs on the SIDE of the screen (not the top).</p>
<p>Furthermore, I will often have a digital textbook (pdf) on one side of the screen while I have a Word document on the other side of the screen, which greatly helps my productivity.
So for me, I personally prefer 15’’ because of this.</p>
<p>I took an old screen from one of our broken down desktops to college and used it as a second monitor. Definitely going to do it again next year; it was super helpful. Even if you have to buy a second monitor, I think it’s worth it. You can get a used one for like $40 I think.</p>
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<p>Believe it or not, some people don’t like to pay more to get less.</p>
<p>Due to portability 13" is more in market rather than 15’. Carrying and handle 13" is more easy and comfortable with respect to 15". I am using 13" from last 7 months. My friend’s also having the same except few ones.</p>
<p>I would definitely go with the 13". It’s plenty big and much more portable. I have a 14" computer and that’s the biggest I would suggest going because of that.</p>
<p>I chose the 15" Macbook Pro over the 13" and would definitely make the same choice again. Portability isn’t an issue for me, personally - it’s a little heavier in my backpack I guess, but it still fits and is easy to take from place to place. I suppose it’s slightly more inconvenient to use in class since sometimes it hangs over the edges of smaller desks a bit. However, it’s not like the size prevents me from using it in class. I chose the 15" for the bigger screen since I watch lots of movies/tv shows and keep multiple windows on the screen at the same time by adjusting their sizes. I find the bigger screen easier on the eyes in general since I spend way too much time on my laptop, so for me the pros outweighed the cons. It’s really just personal preference and won’t make a big deal either way. I see a fair proportion of both at my school.</p>
<p>I don’t usually carry my laptop but I have no problem fitting my 15" MBP into my backpack. Doesn’t feel that heavy.</p>
<p>I can’t stand small screens, they’re just not for me. I always have too much stuff going on haha.</p>
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<p>The Macbook Air is cheaper than the Macbook Pro.</p>
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<p>Not when you add in the cost of all the adapters and such you’re going to need just to get above-basic functionality out of it.</p>
<p>^That’s comparing apples to oranges.
The two are different product lines with different features. When you buy an Macbook Air, you are paying for exactly what it offers: ultra-portability.</p>
<p>If you want a Macbook Air that functions like a Macbook Pro, you will have to buy more things.
If you want a Macbook Pro with the portability of a Macbook Air, well… you should buy a laser cutter.</p>
<p>Using your logic that a Macbook Air is more expensive than a Macbook Pro because you have to buy adapters to get the same functionality, you could say that a laptop is not as portable as a desktop because “you would have to buy an external monitor and mouse to get the same functionality.”</p>
<p>But you think macbook airs are somehow a lot more portable than macbook pros, which they’re not. When it comes to portability, the only dimensions that matter are width and length, not height. They’re both going to take up the same amount of room on your desk, so don’t tell me it’s supposed to mean something when you can fit a macbook air into an envelope because how does that actually benefit you? The fact that the air is thinner is just a gimmick that doesn’t have any practical benefit. If this was about the thinness of phones it would be a different story because it would feel less cumbersome in your pocket, but you would be carrying a laptop around in a case anyway so it defeats the purpose that doesn’t exist in the first place.</p>
<p>I know this may slightly differ from machine to machine, but for those who have had a 13" laptop for a while how easy/ier does it get in terms of typing? I’ve been visiting a few computer stores recently and figured I should get a 13" ultrabook for great protability (I plan on taking it around all day most weekdays), but the typing on them feels so much different then even some of the 14" models they had. It felt like I had to raise my hands a bit to strike the keys directly on top to prevent from hitting other or the wrong keys. I admit after typing on them for about 10 minutes it seemed a little more fluid than when I had first sat down, but overall i don’t know.</p>
<p>Are 13" laptops or ultrabooks practical for typing papers and such?</p>
<p>If anyone wants to give feedback on specific models, I’m considering the Dell XPS 13 or Lenovo U310 (13"). But if I’m not certain on typing practicality, then will most likely get an Acer Aspire Timeline X (14") or Lenovo U410 (14") when it’s released in a few months.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
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“Portability” refers to ease of carrying/moving the laptop. A 13" MacBook Air weighs 1.5 lb less than a 13" Pro - that’s 33% less weight to carry around. Not an insignificant figure.</p>
<p>I assume you’re a Mac user. Mac users, of all people, should know better than to judge a device based on pure technical specs. An Air is technically paying more for less, because the specs are worse, but believe it or not there’s more that goes into a laptop than pure specifications. Besides, I would argue that an Air may actually be faster than a 13" Pro when it comes to casual use, because the gains from an SSD far outweigh the gains from 600-700 MHz of processing power.</p>
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<p>You’re honestly saying a 1.5lb difference is significant? Or are you saying it’s only significant because it’s 33% lighter? If that’s the case, would holding two pieces of paper compared to one piece of paper be significantly heavier because it’s 100% heavier? If so you should hit the gym because you’re just making excuses.</p>
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<p>Definitely not</p>
<p>The difference is significant. It’s not the actual weight difference that matters, but rather the proportional increase in weight (Weber’s law). The Weber fraction for weight is about 2%, which is far less than the weight difference between a Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, so the difference is definitely noticeable. Of course, in a backpack with lots of other things in it the difference wouldn’t be quite as pronounced, but it wouldn’t be insignificant and should be noticeable when just carrying the laptop around (note - personally I would not get a Macbook Air even if I had the money).</p>
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<p>So what you’re saying is, if you held one feather in one hand and two feathers in the other hand, the difference would feel significant? According to you it must be, since two feathers are 100% heavier than one.
Or if you don’t buy that example, how about one drop of water compared to two drops. You would notice the difference in weight?</p>
<p>No, because you must also take into account the weight of the hand. However, the percent weight difference between an Air and a Pro, even when you compensate for the weight of the hand, still greatly exceeds the Weber fraction for kinesthesia. Please [look</a> this up](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weber–Fechner_law]look”>Weber–Fechner law - Wikipedia), it’s found in any introductory psychology text and is really basic.</p>
<p>Go to a store, and hold the two in your hand. If you can’t feel the difference, then you have a problem with your sensory systems.</p>