Pros and Cons of 17" Vs 15" Macbook Pro

[Scott Webster]

Anyone given any thought to using a Macbook Pro as a RedCine workstation and dub unit for their field work? what is your preference 15" or 17"?

 

[donatello b]

i don't use a mac BUT i think any laptop must have a 1920x1200 screen ... which would exclude the 15" ...so that leaves 17" with optional 1920x1200 screen

 

[Jim Hoffman]

I use the 17" and have for about a year. Before that I used the 15". I must say although the added weight makes it not as easy to carry around - the extra screen real estate is VERY worth it. I use a lot of programs with a good deal of menus & windows. It hepls!!! If you use FCP you will be thankful. Since Apple is introducing a high resolution model I think that would be worth checking out. Get an extra battery if you can.

 

[Scott Webster]

i don't use a mac BUT i think any laptop must have a 1920x1200 screen ... which would exclude the 15" ...so that leaves 17" with optional 1920x1200 screen

Are you looking at using a Win Laptop for field use? will that limit you to USB2.0 transfer for the Red Drive? FW800 seems pretty rare on Windows machines.

(if field transfers are not part of your workflow ignore the above )

 

[Scott Webster]

I use the 17" and have for about a year. Before that I used the 15". I must say although the added weight makes it not as easy to carry around - the extra screen real estate is VERY worth it. I use a lot of programs with a good deal of menus & windows. It hepls!!! If you use FCP you will be thankful. Since Apple is introducing a high resolution model I think that would be worth checking out. Get an extra battery if you can.

Thanks for the feedback. The 17" should also prove useful for the XDHD EX when that arrives as a mobile FCP solution. More worried about the size and it withstanding location use, but guessing the more screen real estate the better, for RedCine.

 

[Craig Schober]

wait 'til tomorrow

wait 'til tomorrow

Anyone given any thought to using a Macbook Pro as a RedCine workstation and dub unit for their field work? what is your preference 15" or 17"?

at least wait until tomorrow for the apple product announcement to hear all your options. it might just be new imacs but there's also a small chance of new macbook pros or ultra-portables.

 

[donatello b]

"Are you looking at using a Win Laptop for field use?"

as of today i don't see a affordable win laptop solution for field use .
affordable today - i'm looking at Mac laptop with bootcamp running XP ...
i would use FCP in field and at any time could switch to XP ...

windows XP service pack 2 pretty much crippled 1394b to 1394a speeds ..
i do have a laptop that has a 1394b pmcia card in it and it does do firewire 800 speeds BUT it is running service pack 1 - problem today is many NLE and effects programs require service pack 2 ... i don't know how vista handles 1394B ?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Personally, if I were to buy a Windows notebook today, I would still buy a Macbook Pro and then just load Windows on it. My second choice would probably be the Dell XPS 17" model, and it does have a much more powerful GPU and some more bells and whistles. But that also comes with a lot of added cost, bulk and weight. Then there's the other monstrosity notebooks out there with SLI graphics, dual hard drives, desktop CPUs, etc.. Insane if you ask me... They're not notebooks, but rather highly portable performance gaming systems and workstations. They do have their eapplications and I may consider one of those if I were always on the road doing serious graphics work requiring those features while at client locations. Or if I were a LAN party junkie and didn't want to lug a desktop.

Anyway, back on track... This thread asked about the 15" vs. 17" MBP. I will back a few of the other opinions about the 17". The screen real estate is well worth it. I currently own a 15" MBP and while I love everything about it, I find myself cursing the low-res screen and I almost sold it and ordered the 17" model as soon as Apple announced the 1920x1200 screen. But I've decided to wait until I can get a notebook with more than 4GB installed and I'll wait for the next generation of CPUs and GPUs so that it's truly an upgrade.

Aside from screen real estate, the 15" and 17" are essentially identical in every other way. Same CPU, GPU, HDD options and optical drive. The 15" also has that new LED backlit screen... IMO, it's not really any better and it doesn't consume any less power. The 17" has a larger battery, but it doesn't last any longer in most cases because it's driving the larger screen.

So, unless you're always in tight spots or really using the laptop while it's in your lap, I would recommend the 17". It's only about 1" wider and 2" longer when closed compared to the 15" and really doesn't weight a whole lot more.

My biggest complaint about the 17" MBP is that Apple should put a full numeric keypad on there like HP and some others do on their 17" model keyboards. They have room for it. As for the 15", if apple would make it available with a 1920x1200 screen like some of the old Dell and Winbook models had for a while, then I woudl buy it in a nanosecond. I know this wasn't very popular, but my eyes are good and I really liked the 15" Dell with the 1920x1200 I owned about 2 years ago.