13-inch vs 15-inch Macbook Pro?

[John Dagys]

I'm looking to buy a new Macbook Pro in January and haven't been able to decide on the 13-inch or 15-inch model.

Besides the obvious screen size difference, there's a few changes under the hood too..

13-Inch
2.53 ghz Core 2 Duo
4 gb Ram
500 gb HD
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics

vs:

15-Inch
2.8 ghz Core 2 Duo
4gb Ram
500 gb HD
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB

Price-wise, the 13-inch is nearly $700 cheaper ($1650 vs $2300). But I'm a bit concerned at its graphical abilities, especially when processing photos in Aperture. My current MBP (15-inch 2.0 ghz Core 2 Duo, 2gb Ram, GeForce GT 120) has struggled in Aperture ever since I upgraded to a 40D (larger image sizes).. Now that I'm also looking at getting a second body (either a 50D or a 7D), it would put even more load on it.

What do you guys think? I don't need it to be super fast, as that's what my iMac is for at home.. But I don't want to regret it in the long run, as this would need to last me at least two years..

thanks,

[Steve Stein]

I've been using a 13" Macbook (non-Pro) for the past year plus and it works fine with Lightroom 2. Lightroom 1 sucked on it though. Lightroom 1 sucked on everything. Not sure about Aperture. I really don't find the video subsystem much of a limitation, even with PS4, but I probably do 90% in LR now.

I do like the new backlit LED screens on them now. I don't think the little bump in CPU is going to matter much in processing speed being that RAM and disk are equal. But if you ever fly, the 13" screen beats a 15" by not having the seatback in front of you crash down on your screen when the bozo in front of you drops their seatback down in warp speed.

Having said that, if/when I ever replace the Macbook I might opt for the 15" because the screen real estate can be a pain with an old set of eyes.

[John Thawley]

I don't think you're comparing Apples to Apples here. Well wait... I guess you are. LOL

The loaded 15" is still the ticket. I'd be concerned about real estate and heat with the 13".

JT

[John Waugh]

15" with out a doubt.
13" is just too small to view Aperture adjustments, browser, projects inspector and an image.

[Curtis Creager]

Simple...go with the 15.

[Daniel Buck]

can you get more ram in either of them? That's what I would do. I've got 8 gigs of ram in my laptop, giving photoshop 6.5 of those gigs really works nice. If I could get more than 8 gigs, I would have, haha :-D

[Steve Stein]

I don't think you're comparing Apples to Apples here. Well wait... I guess you are. LOL

The loaded 15" is still the ticket. I'd be concerned about real estate and heat with the 13".

JT

Heat on the 13" Whitebook is a problem, but it makes an excellent grilled cheese sandwich grill.

I figure I have one more year before an upgrade and who knows what Apple will have out then, but it probably will be 15" with hopefully a matte screen. Not a big fan of the glossy screens.

Has anyone tried to calibrate one of the LED backlit screens? From what I saw at the Apple Store the monitor backlight has more adjustment range than previous versions. Even the new iMacs allow the backlight to really be adjusted.