13 or 15 inch MBP? (switching from Windows)

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I'm having trouble deciding between a high-end 13inch Macbook Pro or a low-end 15 inch one.
I am currently using an HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop, 1GB RAM, Intel core 2 T5300, 1.73GHz, running on Vista (d'oh). It is almost 4 years old and keeps overheating and crashing and blocking and all that stuff (driving me insane pretty much).
Both of the MBPs have 4GB of RAM; the 15inch however has the Intel Core i5 (not that I myself have ever tested the difference).

I am a heavy user in that I spend pretty much all my time in front of a computer. However, I rarely (if ever) play games or edit videos; I mostly browse, edit photos and watch movies.

My current resolution is 1200x800 (like on the 13inch MBP).

I've never used a Mac before so I am asking if the upgrade from my current laptop to 13 will be enough (speed-wise mostly) to make me happy and significantly less b!tchy and irritated :Oops: and is upgrading even further to 15in worth it?

Also, since I watch a lot of movies, is the 13's smaller screen likely to bother me much (considering that it's the same resolution that I currently have)?
 
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You can't go wrong with either but watching any video the bigger the screen the better the
experience and as far as speed yes you will notice that the OSX platform tends to do everything in a timely fashion with a little less micro managing or at least thats my experience. Go to the store and watch a demo video on each model and that should help
your decision myself the 15 fits the bill for both portability and screen real-estate.
 

chscag

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Welcome to the Mac Forums.

A lot depends on how you intend to use the MBP. If your usage is more mobile, then the 13" MBP might be easier to carry around. However, many folks likewise carry around a 15" machine when traveling. I did for years.

As member osxx mentioned, the 15" screen is better for viewing although you can always attach an external monitor to either machine for playing games at home or watching video. You can even use your HDMI TV as an external monitor with the proper adapter and cables.

What it may come down to when making the decision is price. As you probably noticed, the 15" MBP is more money than the 13" model.
 
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I can't do real work with a laptop under 15". I'm a photographer though and I've done music production and video editing as well, so there's that.

Also, I don't know if they're any better, but the two previous C2D MBP laptops I had got extremely hot.
 
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The i-series of processors run much cooler it seems, though I'm by no means knowledgable on that stuff... My wife's old Macbook had a C2D and it didn't get "hot" the way she used it, but it would get uncomfortably warm. The i7 MBP I got her, doesn't even get slightly warm, no matter what she's doing with it. (it's actually worrisome how cool it stays... Though it is the dead of winter right now.)
 
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Clockwork is right, it seems as thoug the i5/i7 series processors run much cooler. I bought my girlfriend an i5 15" MBP and I bought myself a i7 17" MBP and her's never even gets warm. She does the basic web browsing, email, photos, videos. My 17" i7 is on 24/7 and I constantly use it(flash intensive things, gaming, etc) and it usually gets "slightly warm" at the most.


It all depends on the screen real estate that you decided you need. I'm a person that will always take the biggest screen because I always want as much as possible; hence the 17"


Also take into account whether you multi-task as well and if you'll be wanting to see more than one application at a time.
 

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