OT: MacBookPro advice needed.

[Paul Looney]

Alex,
Over the last decade and a half each new laptop I bought had a bigger  
screen. I've always considered this an improvement.
On the last purchase I debated for almost six months between the 15"  
and the 17". I finally got the 17" and have not regretted that  
decision at all. Based on my experience, you would probably be  
happier with a 15" instead of the 13" - and  happier yet with the 17".
Several people have mentioned connecting to a larger monitor at home  
or in the office. I use this arrangement myself and my old eyes like  
it a lot. If you are going this route I'd recommend getting an  
external monitor with the same resolution as the laptop (just a  
larger size) - that way, when you change from laptop to desktop  
monitor, everything is in the same relative position (in other words,  
the icons don't get re-arranged when moving to the smaller screen).  
This works with the high resolution 15" and std. 20" monitor or the  
17" and a std. 23" monitor.
For a laptop, with many applications running, the amount of RAM will  
make more difference than the processor speed. Get a much as possible.
You didn't ask about the SSD option but I'd advise skipping it on a  
laptop - put the money into RAM. BTW I use an SSD on my Mini and it  
is fantastic.
I can't stand the glossy screens, some people like them better. This  
is an important decision (on both the laptop and the desktop) be sure  
to look at both before buying.
I only run OS X so I can't offer any assistance with item 2.
I'm sure you will enjoy your new computer - no matter which one you  
get - today you really can't go wrong. Congratulations.
Paul Looney

On Apr 27, 2010, at 3:46 PM, Alex Tweedly wrote:

>
> I'd like advice in two areas .....
>
> 1. Should I buy the 13-inch or the 15-inch ?
> I can compare the screen sizes, and the resolution and even the  
> relative weights.
> But I don't have a realistic idea of how much faster the Intel i5  
> is over the older Dual Core.
> So any advice about performance, or pointers to reliable benchmark  
> sites for Mac ?
>
>
> 2. I plan to dual-boot or triple-boot OSX, Win 7 and Linux (some  
> kind). Probably just using Bootcamp, but I might want to use VmWare  
> or other VM later.
> Any advice on setting the machine up to make this easy ?
>
> Thanks
> -- Alex.
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