The Student Room Group

13inch or 15 inch mac

I have saved 1k for a mac, which i thought i would be the 13inch mac book pro. However i am concerned about the screen size. The 13inch looks tiny compared to the 15, but the 15' mac is obviously a lot more expensive.

Not sure if i should buy the 13 or wait till next year and save again.....for the 15inch mac

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Reply 1
Well, i was on the same position last year and I selected the 13 inch, because it was more portable and easy to carry around in the Uni, on the bus, watch movies on the train etc. And haven't regreted it, as I am watching other guys with their large screens, struggling to fit it in their seat.
What will be ur main use of it?
Reply 2
Original post by alexkol
Well, i was on the same position last year and I selected the 13 inch, because it was more portable and easy to carry around in the Uni, on the bus, watch movies on the train etc. And haven't regreted it, as I am watching other guys with their large screens, struggling to fit it in their seat.
What will be ur main use of it?


Erm mine will be doing work, essays, watching movies, listening to music and things like that really. It will be for college and eventually university.
I'm staying in London hopefilly for university so I don't think I will be carrying it around too much
Reply 3
Original post by 3mmz
I have saved 1k for a mac, which i thought i would be the 13inch mac book pro. However i am concerned about the screen size. The 13inch looks tiny compared to the 15, but the 15' mac is obviously a lot more expensive.

Not sure if i should buy the 13 or wait till next year and save again.....for the 15inch mac


I got the bigger 15" but i should have gone with the smaller one, cant be bothered to take this anywhere, too big and heavy. Go with the smaller one... if you want to take it places, but if its staying at home, go with the bigger one.
spend £175 on a larger flatsceen monitor to hook up the macbook to for working on and watching movies on at home. 13 is just too small for me for doing loads of uni work and watching films etc, but really handy for carrying around. It's probably just better value to buy a monitor rather than a larger mac. Plus for under £200 you'll get a big screen.

[video]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-T22A300-Widescreen-Monitor-Surround/dp/B006PEBUO0/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1344594812&sr=1-8[/video]

one of them

[video]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Gigaworks-Series-Multimedia-Speakers/dp/B001IZZ2PE/ref=sr_1_12?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1344594896&sr=1-12[/video]

pair of them

whatever HDMI cable adapter you need for the mac to monitor, and bang, you've got a home cinema and workstation for £300 cheaper than 2" extra on your mac.
(edited 11 years ago)
I've been and had a look over & over again at the 13 & 15 inch Macbook pros and i've decided to go with the 13inch.. I think it's a lot more portable that the 15inch..

The 13 inch mac is £999, I rang up apple about the student discount and they said I would get a discount with going to univesity.. They gave me a new price of £859!! Which is a massive saving as a student :smile:
Reply 6
How big is your current one? It depends on whether you would feel comfortable with a 13" or if you need a bigger screen.
Go to the apple store and get a feel of the 13" laptop, it might not seem as small as you think. I'm getting a 13" myself even though I've been using 15" laptops for years. I guess if you watch movies you might like a bigger screen.
Original post by Rea Isabella
I've been and had a look over & over again at the 13 & 15 inch Macbook pros and i've decided to go with the 13inch.. I think it's a lot more portable that the 15inch..

The 13 inch mac is £999, I rang up apple about the student discount and they said I would get a discount with going to univesity.. They gave me a new price of £859!! Which is a massive saving as a student :smile:


Now your mac is only twice as expensive as a comparible PC!

you also get a hefty discount on the post sales care package or whatever they call it (3 years I think)
Reply 8
Original post by Mister Dead
spend £175 on a larger flatsceen monitor to hook up the macbook to for working on and watching movies on at home. 13 is just too small for me for doing loads of uni work and watching films etc, but really handy for carrying around. It's probably just better value to buy a monitor rather than a larger mac. Plus for under £200 you'll get a big screen.

[video]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-T22A300-Widescreen-Monitor-Surround/dp/B006PEBUO0/ref=sr_1_8?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1344594812&sr=1-8[/video]

one of them

[video]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Gigaworks-Series-Multimedia-Speakers/dp/B001IZZ2PE/ref=sr_1_12?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1344594896&sr=1-12[/video]

pair of them

whatever HDMI cable adapter you need for the mac to monitor, and bang, you've got a home cinema and workstation for £300 cheaper than 2" extra on your mac.

Wow that does sound good. When you hook the mac to the flat screen what cable do you use? Also when it's all connected do you use the laptop keyboard or you have to buy a separate key board?
This all sounds confusing lol
13-inch.
Original post by 3mmz
Wow that does sound good. When you hook the mac to the flat screen what cable do you use? Also when it's all connected do you use the laptop keyboard or you have to buy a separate key board?
This all sounds confusing lol


I think I used to use my laptop keyboard, but I don't see any reason you couldn't use a USB keybard and mouse. In fact yeah, my old housmate had a really nice apple keyboard and wireless mouse he used, so when he was at home it was basically like a desktop computer with a big screen.

I'm not sure exactly which cable because I think the newer macs have a different connector to mine, but all you need is a cable that connects the HDMI out on your mac to a standard HDMI cable that goes into the back of the monitor. Mine was just called a HDMI to Mini HDMI adapter and cost about a tenner, but a newer mac needs a slightly differnt one. But if you are unsure then just give apple a call or pop into a store, or even PC world or an independent computer shop will tell you which. I have two or three friends that all have their macs hooked up to a decent monitor for home use. It really is a better option by miles and cheaper, so long as you don't think you'll need the extra size macbook screen when you are out and about.

So you need

mac
monitor
speakers + cable to go from headphone output on mac to speaker input
HDMI lead (prob comes with monitor)
Apple HDMI lead adapter for whatever HDMI output the mac has

£1200 approx (minus your student discount for mac) and any computer shop will tell you which leads.

Buy speakers and monitor from Amazon as will be cheaper than shops.
(edited 11 years ago)
it doesn't sound like you need to do anything particuarly taxing with it. i'd get the 13" air. although they're hopefully going to release new versions in the autumn, so maybe worth waiting.

then as others have suggested buy a nice 24" monitor and wireless mouse/keyboard when you want a big screen
Reply 12
Original post by didgeridoo12uk
it doesn't sound like you need to do anything particuarly taxing with it. i'd get the 13" air. although they're hopefully going to release new versions in the autumn, so maybe worth waiting.

then as others have suggested buy a nice 24" monitor and wireless mouse/keyboard when you want a big screen


Errrrr the MacBook air. I need a cd slot to pay DVDs
Original post by 3mmz
Errrrr the MacBook air. I need a cd slot to pay DVDs


i never use the dvd slot on my mbp to watch dvds anymore. everythings either already on a harddrive or streamed from lovefilm/netflix. taking a film collection to uni in actual dvd form will take up a huge amount of space.

and on the very odd occasion i do want to play a dvd, i put it in my blu-ray player. but i guess thats not an option for most students
Original post by 3mmz
I have saved 1k for a mac, which i thought i would be the 13inch mac book pro. However i am concerned about the screen size. The 13inch looks tiny compared to the 15, but the 15' mac is obviously a lot more expensive.

Not sure if i should buy the 13 or wait till next year and save again.....for the 15inch mac


or get neither... save £500 and buy an Asos... or something better
Original post by Mister Dead
Now your mac is only twice as expensive as a comparible PC!

you also get a hefty discount on the post sales care package or whatever they call it (3 years I think)


PIE prefer Macs to PCs, I have had both and think Macs are far better in everyway.. That's just my opinion and I'd rather spend that extra money on it and know it's going to last me :smile:
See I think the 15 inch form factor is just unnecessarily large. Laptops in my opinion are supposed to be portable, size-aware and easy to take from place to place, so I think the 13 inch form factor. Currently the larger of the two is in your favour since there's a massive processing power boost going up from the 13 inch because the 15 has a quadcore processor, so I'd definitely go with that one.
Reply 17
I bought a 13 inch and its the perfect size. I dont feel like its too small when Im watching movies etc (which i do a lot) on it but its small enough to take to uni come september! When you look at the 15 and 13 side by side it does look like a massive size difference but once you take the 13 inch home you wont notice at all. Id save the money and go for the smaller one if i were you :smile:

Wait who would give neg rep for this? I'm not lying, I haven't felt my laptop is too small...
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 18
Original post by yb93
I bought a 13 inch and its the perfect size. I dont feel like its too small when Im watching movies etc (which i do a lot) on it but its small enough to take to uni come september! When you look at the 15 and 13 side by side it does look like a massive size difference but once you take the 13 inch home you wont notice at all. Id save the money and go for the smaller one if i were you :smile:


Thanks for the reply. Did you buy a virus software for your mac and also do you get Microsoft word on student discount?
Reply 19
Original post by jumpingjesusholycow
See I think the 15 inch form factor is just unnecessarily large. Laptops in my opinion are supposed to be portable, size-aware and easy to take from place to place, so I think the 13 inch form factor. Currently the larger of the two is in your favour since there's a massive processing power boost going up from the 13 inch because the 15 has a quadcore processor, so I'd definitely go with that one.


hmm maybe you are right

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