<p>Hey. I have a 17 inch Mac and will be going off for freshman year soon. So, went to the orientation yesterday and one of the "IT" guys strongly suggested against 17 inchers since they're "too heavy" or "won't fit on desks" and "your life is going to suck and you'll have back problems." The last thing I want to do is spend more money on a 15 inch mac, but if I have to do it because life will really suck with a 17, I guess I have to. So in your opinion, which should I go with?</p>
<p>I have a 17" laptop that I take almost everywhere, and I have not had any problems with carrying it. I think the trick is the bag that I use and that I shift the weight every 5-10 minutes so it isn’t in the same spot for very long.</p>
<p>I thought it was weird for the guy to say that it would “break your back”, because the weight is not THAT big of a difference. If money is not a huge factor, I would go with the 15 inch if you think it would be more portable, otherwise, stick with your 17 inch.</p>
<p>The 17" weighs 6.6 lbs, definitely too much for me. I’d go for the 15", because honestly if you need a bigger monitor you can just buy one and connect it to your macbook when you’re back in your dorm. The price difference between the 15" and 17" is $500, and for that money you can easily buy two 24" monitors. I’d definitely go for the smaller laptop, but then again, I’m the guy spoiled by 3.5 lbs :)</p>
<p>Ok. Thanks for all the replies! Well, now that I’m thinking about it, I might just sell my laptop for a 15 incher. I will be taking it around for classes bxc Human Sciences require it…sigh. Is the battery life pretty sucky on a 15 inch? I was looking around and a few people said it had a 2 hour battery limit if you’re doing a lot of stuff on it (like gaming or multiple tasks). Which is not a good option for me…How are your 15’’ battery life?</p>
<p>The battery life is pretty good. If your are just typing something up or surfing the web. If your working on videos and other things that require a large amount of the cpu to be used it still last more than two hours. Maybe around 4. I have the i7 which definitely uses more battery so the other MacBooks should get even better battery life.</p>
<p>I’d go with a 13" MacBook Pro and get a big monitor for your room. The battery life is incredible, and–unless you are a hard core gamer–it will give you everything you need in terms of power both for processing and video. You’ll be happier with the portability for college life.</p>
<p>I have a 17 inch MBP and it can be a pain both in size and weight. I just bought my son a new Unibody MBP and he loves it (upgrade from his old one). It’s the 15 inch with the high-res option. The 15 inch MBPs are supposed to run for 8 hours if you’re not using the discrete graphics adapter. It’s probably more like four if you’re using the nVidia graphics.</p>
<p>I’d switch from my 17 to 15 if Apple offered a WUXGA option on the 15 inch.</p>
<p>You don’t need a 17 inch Mac for what you’ll be using it for anyway. You want something that is light and has a small footprint. Remember, you’re going to be hauling this thing around a lot and having a smaller and lighter computer will make your life easier. You won’t be giving anything up performance wise unless you seriously need the extra computing power. Macs are very efficient with the operating system and even a low spec Mac speeds through applications. You can buy a 13 inch MacBook and use the extra dough on more important needs or even a nice 24 inch monitor!</p>
<p>As for battery life, it’s usually shorter than the manufacturer says. When using wi-fi and doing basic things like typing you can get around 6 hours. Usually only when you turn off wi-fi is when you get 8+ hours. Watching youtube and multitasking gets around 4 hrs.</p>