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is a mbp 17" too big?

R

rafa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 2, 2006
9
0
hi,

i have been a proud 15" powerbook owner for 3 years and its time to move on.

is the mbp 17" too big for travelling for example? should i get the 15 instead?

i do not take out my pb everyday, not everyweek; it goes out when its necesary.

thanks in advanced
 
A 17" is fine if all you need is transportability. It's hard to use on your lap say in a train or on an airplane. Coffee shops are doable but it's a bit awkward.

Having owned a 12", a 15", and a 17", I think the 15" is a happy medium.
 
Unless you actually need the bigger screen, FW 800, and 3 USB ports, get the 15". Since you want some portability, I would say go for the 15". It's the perfect size for me.
 
I love my 17"... I take it everywhere with me and I don't have any problems making it my portable workstation. In fact I never leave home without it!

I recommend you check both sizes out in person and then decide which will best suit your needs. I for one love the added desktop real estate that the 17" provides.
 
One thing to keep in mind with the MPB's is that the 15" is just a little bit wider than the 15" PB it replaced. I think the 17" MBP stayed about the same as the old 17" PB though, so there isn't as big of a size difference between the two as there used to be.

Granted, it is a slight increase in width, but the old 17" PB used to seem much bigger than the 15" PB to me - Almost too big.

Now when I look at the MPB's, the 17" doesn't seem that much bigger than the 15".

I dunno...this may be all in my head, but do try to check them out in the store so you can compare them side-by-side for yourself.
 
Every time I see the 17" MacBookPro at the AppleStore, I am just as wowed by how huge it is as if I just saw the 30" cinema display. IMO, it is that huge.
 
I had a 17" gateway POS until I saw the light and got a 15" MBP. The 17" gateway was heavier and had more thickness than the 17" MBP obviously, but it was just not managable flying and such. The 15" is a perfect size and now with the 14x9 resolution, it is a definite improvement over the old 15" 12x9 display. To echo everyone's sentiments here, if you really need the extra real estate with you all the time, go for it. It's portability is awesome, considering it's relative light weight and thinness for a 17" portable. But if you don't, get the 15 and an extra monitor, keyboard and mouse for home.
 
The 17" is fine for me, i enjoy it. I have it on my lap a lot and i dont think its to large. After first getting it i thought it was a tad to big but now i am used to it. If your going to use it at home and work mostly then it should be fine, but if your going to coffee shops, hotspots and other areas i would recommend the 12" or 15" unless you need the 17".
 
My 17" PowerBook is totally freakin awesome. I love the extra screen space, especially when making study notes, as I can have 2 full-sized documents open at once.

A previous poster said that a 17" laptop is a bit awkward at a coffee shop. I LOVE the looks my PowerBook gets when in public.
 
Personally the 17" MBP is too big for me. I think the 15" strikes a perfect balance in portability and performance. It's all a matter of preference though.

Also, I think the 17" MBP weighs like 10.6lbs whereas the 15" MBP weighs roughly 5.5lbs.
 
stoavio said:
Personally the 17" MBP is too big for me. I think the 15" strikes a perfect balance in portability and performance. It's all a matter of preference though.

Also, I think the 17" MBP weighs like 10.6lbs whereas the 15" MBP weighs roughly 5.5lbs.
Click to expand...
lol no... its only like 6.7lbs :p
 
Rafa,

I think it is more personal preference than anything. As you can see from the posts here, people think it is perfect--while others think it would be too big for them. For instance, I think the 15" is more than enough for my needs. The new MBPs have higher resolution as well, so if you can handle having things be a bit smaller, you'll have a larger workspace.

The 17 is very beautiful but when I owned a Powerbook, I was worried enough carrying it around. I can't imagine what it would be like carrying around the 17.
 
I was just at the apple store and the 17" is absolutely fracking huge. Hell originally i thought the 15" was the 17" then i saw this monstrosity that was the actual 17"
 
It is definite personal preference-there is no way I could do anything heavier or larger than my 15'' mbp. The 17'' seems like a monster to me- but you might feel different. I say check them both out for yourself
 
thank you guys.

i think i will go 17 because i dont take my laptop everywhere with me, just in special situations, most of the time work related and althought i have a home office i use the computer in other places of the house (its a wireless world after all) and i think i will apreciate the xtra screen space if im working with +500 frames timelines.

when i get to the applestore its possible i decide otherwise, but for now...:D

thanks again
 
You know its funny. When I first got my 17 inch, I got it for the extra ports and such, and when i opened it up, I thought, "OMG, this thing is so huge, I think I made a mistake." But, I have to say now that I have gotten used to it, sometimes I think I have the 15 inch version. I don't really think I could go back down to 15. Its perfect.
 
When I first heard of 17" screen on a Laptop, I thought "way too big!" Thats not true at all. When I actually saw it, I said, "hey, that's not so bad" and It'
s actually really nice having a screen that big. But if portability is a major thing to you, go with the 15.4 It is really nice and still big at the same time.
 
15"

Personally, I think, overall, the 15" is the perfect size for a laptop computer ( or notebook, whatever). But, after spending a week with the 13.3" MacBook, I can't imagine using a 17" at all.. That thing is just huge...

It's all personal preference IMHO.
 
I'm sitting here doing some homework on the 12" PB, my 17" MBP is in my bedroom uploading some files to the media center/server, so i wanted to leave it on a wired connection. This 12" makes me feel sooooo cramped because now i'm used to my 17" MBP and i absolutely love it... LOVE it. When i bring it out a work to make a presentation or mess around everyone is like :eek: that is the coolest thing i've ever seen... its so big... but when someone else sits down at it and actually starts using PPT, Word, Excel, Firefox, and iChat simultaneously, they realize why i got the 17" and they look at their 15" Dells and hang their heads. There are some software apps that i have to use at work that require windows, and they say well, you spent all that money on something that you can't run our everyday software on... then i boot in to windows and get this "waaahhh". Then i scoff and say, who's laughing now...

Man, i really miss 2 finger scrolling when i'm using this thing...
 
Obviously personal preference. Sounds like you made the right call in your stiuation. I'm in a similar one, and I went with the 17". Were I moving it around a lot more or using it on planes all the time, though, it would be too big for me--I'd definitely have sacrificed the extra screen space for the reduced weight and compact size.

15" really is a good "portable" maximum size, while 17" is about as big as you can go and still consider it a notebook computer--those 19" monstrosities you can buy for LAN parties are only portable in the same sense the iMacs are--yes, they're easy to move from one locaton to another, but carrying it everywhere or using it "on the go" is not realistic.
 
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