Is the MBP 13" too small for a desktop replacement?

[Al_G]

Yo!

I've always fancied a MBP and ideally I'd like to buy the 15" model but unfortunately I'm also in the process of buying a house so money is extremely tight

I can scrape enough money to buy a 13" (with student discount) but the 15" model is unjustified at the minute...

I'll be buying it to replace my ancient HP desktop...

Main use will be web surfing, email, word processing etc (really basic stuff basically).

My question is would the 13" be up to the job and is the screen big enough (I don’t want to spend my life squinting at silly small font). I've tested out both out at the Apple store and obviously I preferred the 15" but maybe that was down to the fact that I had the two side by side in a very open space.

My works laptop (HP Elitebook) is 14.1" so hardly big and I use that without any issues. I'm just wondering whether 13" might be pushing it a little...

Anybody own a 13" on CS? How do you find the screen size?

As I work from home portability isn't my main concern (mainly price). If the 13" is too small I guess I'll have to consider something like a DELL XPS 15

Cheers everyone

 

[Revels]

Don't scrimp and buy one just for the sake of it.

If it's never going to be portable and used on your desk, save for a bit and get an iMac.

I found 13" fine but I only ever used it on a desk a handful of times. I couldn't use it now as I'm used to much bigger.

 

[Christopher]

Depends what you use it for. If it's just browsing, emails and the occasional bit of work, then it's ample.

I looked at trading my 15" MBP down to a 13" but couldn't use Creative Suite properly on it at all, I really struggled since I'm used to working on 27 winches.

For the non-professional though, a 13" would be great. Perfect even.

 

[Rob]

I use my 13 every day. I haven't had a desktop in years, but it did replace my 15" dell with no problems at all.

For some reason the 13" apple model really doesn't feel very small.

Great piece of kit as long as you're not after stupidly high res etc.

 

[Mr Pants]

I'm 13" too and love it. There are times when I think 15" could be far more ideal if I'm working on graphic / website design, but tbh that's not very often so it's more of a plus to have a smaller more compact model.

 

[sneeks]

I replaced my 20" iMac with a 13" MBP and have no problems using it as my main home computer.

 

[PMac]

Personally I think its a bit small, nice screen though.

 

[ChrisR]

I'm ordering a 13inch tomorrow as a semi desktop replacement.

I don't do much on the desktop anyway, web browsing, email, videos, er not much else at the moment.

Will be working away a lot soon so going for something I can lug about a bit.

Why did they not put the f**king screen from the Air in the Pro though, idiots.

 

[Noj]

surely you dont need a mbp just to surf the net and check emails and other "basic stuff"

 

[Rob]

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but, you do.

 

[Munson]

The 13" screen is well rubbish. The resolution is far too low. Meaning that not only is text massive, but it's also furry. Wish I'd never bought mine.

It's fine if you're not used to high PPI panels, but you may find screen space rather limiting in Excel documents and the like.

 

[Munson]

surely you dont need a mbp just to surf the net and check emails and other "basic stuff"

Here we go. Another tramp. That's all 98% of people use their computer for. You don't have to be searching for a cure for cancer to justify a nice computer.

 

[Justin]

How are the 13" screens for tinkering in Photoshop? Is the Air screen noticably better than the Pro ?

 

[Matt W]

Here we go. Another tramp.

You don't mince your words although you have a fair point.

 

[Liquid yellow 182]

Had my 13" for a year now and it's awesome to use everyday. replaced my rubbish 15" dell and hasn't had anything go wrong and been 100% happy with it since purchase.

 

[jenic]

I replaced everything with a 13" MB and it was fine, had it all through sixth form and did all my work on it, then when I went to college I used it to do all my work and presentations and stuff. Then I took it to work and did loads of image processing on it because their machines didn't have the software. Then upgraded to 15" last year and its even better

But yeh, 13" is easily livable with. Infact my cousin completed his masters degree on a 10" netbook!

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

LCDs are so cheap these days. You can pick up a 21.5" screen for ~£100... if you need more desktop space, 2nd screen on a desk somewhere.

I personally think my 13" is awesome for what it is ! Really doesn't feel as small as it is...

 

[ChrisR]

surely you dont need a mbp just to surf the net and check emails and other "basic stuff"

I didn't say all I'd use a laptop for are those things, just that's all I do on my desktop at the moment, it hardly gets used.

That's what I do with my current desktop at the moment, also have a 'laptop' which is just a s**tty old netbook which gets used for a few more interesting things. But due to new job starting soon I need to beef the laptop up as well.

So this is a machine to consolidate, so to replace the desktop the 13inch is plenty for me, plus it then allows me to do the other stuff that I require in a laptop.

Plus the price I'm getting it for means it's working out cheaper than a decent Windows laptop like a Lenovo X200 series, or a decent Dell (not one of the cheap consumer crap models they do).

The screen res is a s**tter but what can you do, don't really want to pay the premium for the air and don't want to stretch to the 15inch model.

Surely as a PC Technician you can appreciate why a Macbook Pro is a good machine

 

[SimonR.]

13" is perfect for me as it's lightweight and I travel with it a lot.

However I do have external monitors on my desktop for mixing purposes.

 

[ChrisR]

13inch base pro ordered with Applecare this afternoon.

Really would have liked the top model purely for the AES-NI capability of the i7 chip, but even the geek in me couldn't justify £250 extra just for that.

 

[cava83]

I find the screen resolution on my 13" mbp rather small, specially when doing word documents and excel sheets, if it only had a bigger resolution.

Anyhow, it's perfect to use for the majority of the stuff and I need a bigger workspace, I hook it up to my 30" ACD, problem solved.

 

[john.med]

I've just replaced my 15" Dell with a 13" MBP, and yeah the screen could do with being a higher res, but it's good enough, easily for me. Maybe a 15" MBP would have been that little bit better, but hey.

Mortgage + baby on the way + not being on CS wages means I had to keep s**t real!

 

[Al_G]

Thanks for the input everyone...Sounds like the MBP 13" suffers from 2 issues (forgetting about the smaller screen):

1) Low resolution
2) Integrated GPU which "some" consider to be a step backwards from the 2010 model

I'm now wondering whether the extra £500 for the 15" model is now justified...

Alternatively I could hold out until next years update as Apple may look to sort out both (1 especially). I think most are expecting the 2012 updates to be quite major unlike this years :S

 

[ChrisR]

GPU on this one doesn't bother me one bit, no plans to game on it so would rather have the improved battery life from the integrated and the newer Sandybridge chip

As for holding out another year, screw waiting get one now then sell up and rebuy either just before, or when they come out.

You don't lose much on a Macbook compared to a 'normal' lappy, plus you'll get a whole years use out of it

 

[jenic]

Also, you say low resolution, it will still be one of the nicest screens you have ever used presuming your coming from a regular laptop/desktop.

 

[Al_G]

Also, you say low resolution, it will still be one of the nicest screens you have ever used presuming your coming from a regular laptop/desktop.

Oh sure I didnt mean it to sound as though I was slating the MBP 13 just commenting on what others have posted.

I'm not really interetsed in buying and selling a year down the line as ideally I'd like to buy something with a view to holding onto it for 3 - 4 years. If big changes are expected next year then I guess it might be worthwhile holding out (will also mean I can save that little extra and upgrade to the 15" i guess).

I think the 13" would be perfect but £1000 is a lot of money so want to make sure I'm 100% happy. The Last think I want to do is buy it and realise I've made an error

 

[john.med]

Your call mate. I love mine, but it is a lotta wonga. Do you know a student? The wife's doing a masters, so I took her with me. Her student ID got 15% off. Something to consider.

 

[seb]

I have a 13 incher

Perfect for general surfing duties.

Didn't realise the screen was low res... Seems pretty good to me!

 

[john.med]

It's not exactly low res Seb. It's higher than 720p. Whereas some are higher than 1080p... That's the way I see it.

 

[Munson]

It's fine for general stuff, yeah. It is however pretty much as low resolution as any half decent laptop gets these days, so on that basis it's low res. When you switch from a 1920x1200 MBP back to the 13", the text is horribly fuzzy. You do quickly get used to it again though. It's not a deal breaker for most people, but the MBPs are supposed to be high-end machines, and should be quipped with a high end panel. All it needs is slightly higher PPI and it will be the dreamiest little laptop ever. 2012 models will surely address this.

I'm not sure how Mac OSX handles font scaling, but of course the 13" would reach the stage where all fonts would need enlarging so they're not too small (if it ever starts getting close to 'retina' PPI).

 

[seb]

See I had a dell laptop from circa 2004 before the mbp so you can see why I think it is awesome

 

[Munson]

Yeah and it is awesome, but with a higher resolution panel it would be alpha dog of the laptop world.

 

[john.med]

It should have the Air's panel really shouldn't it,.. But hey!

 

[Munson]

Yeah but the MBA is 16:9 so it's easy to see why they didn't do it for the internal 2011 updates.

 

[john.med]

Oh yeah, I remember now.

 

[Danny133]

21'' iMac is same price as 13' Mbp so buy that

 

[Christopher]

No. Don't.

iMac nano FTL.

 

[john.med]

Ha. The Mac range is a fookin' minefiield!

I was tempted by the Air, but the size of the HD, the lack of optical drive and the relatively poor battery life, not to mention the price put me off.

Either spend much more than you have/want to, or compromise to a degree.

 

[Munson]

The only iMac worth having is the QC 27". Anything less is admitting you failed at life.

 

[Danny133]

21'' iMac is same price as 13' Mbp so buy that

Ignore the high rollers .. This is the best option and same price.

I was going to buy a 13'' MBP as it's all I could afford but decided as it was going to be a desktop anyway I might swell get the iMac as it same price, bigger, faster, nicer and easier to use.