Anyone here who moved from a 17.3" display to a 15.6" display?

Do you miss the real estate? I generally have my screen divided in two halves with a pdf in 1 half and some program in the other. Are you able to work side by side on 2 items?

I currently have an AW m17xr3 (17.3" screen) and the main reasons for wanting to switch over is that retina screen and Yosemite. Dell didn't even provide official support for Windows 8, forget Win 10, whereas MBPs always get the latest OS from Apple. The only thing holding me back is the loss of screen real estate.

Any thoughts from people who have made a similar jump?

 

Just because a system doesn't have "official" support from an OEM doesn't mean an operating system won't run. I will virtually guarantee that all your Alienware's hardware has drivers for Windows 8. You would just need download them from chipset makers, which would be more up-to-date anyway. Also, Windows 7 support isn't going to go away anytime soon, so unless there are specific features in Windows 8 that you want or need, there's no need change.

 

What he said. If you want Win8 just go get it, I, too, promise you that your machine will work just fine.

That said - I don't notice much difference between the two when im just using it as a laptop, right infront of me with my hands on they keyboard.

It does however become very apparent when I add an additional monitor, push the laptop back a bit and connect a keyboard. Then the 15.6inch is unusable unless i change resolution.

 

No. Nobody has. Everyone on this forum that has ever owned a 17.3" laptop has never gone to a 15.6" screen.

Since a 17.3" screen is 1920x1080, and they make 15.6" laptops in 1920x1080, the screen real estate lost is.. zero. The screen is physically smaller, but the exact same amount of content fits in it.

- Yosemite has been out just under seven days. It is having a good case of ".0 release" blues, with the usual assortment of compatibility issues, decreased battery life, crashes, bad drivers, and whatever else. As someone who is responsible for deploying Macs and has seen Yosemite's goods and bads in action, I can tell you, it's perfectly along Apple's track record of goofed up .0 releases.

- If you got an AlienWare, you must have had some gaming intent with it. OS X has been sort of thrown into the gaming arena with Steam, but the fastest video chip in a Retina is a GT750m, which can do gaming to an extent, but it ain't no 580M.

- Dell doesn't provide official support but Windows 8.1's Windows Update will likely have drivers for most if not all of the hardware in your laptop. You may need to find like, a ControlVault driver if your laptop has that thing. You're out of warranty, don't worry about Dell's support.

- Win10 isn't out yet. As it is now, it's going to use mostly Win8.x drivers anyway.

- While Yosemite installs on a wide range of Macs, like with Mavericks before it, it's not a good idea to install it on anything really old. Which in Apple world is 2010/early 2011.

I used 17" laptops for several years. 1920x1200 models, more pixels than yours. I have a 2011 MacBook Pro 17" model that I use virtually every day, and an old 17" Dell Precision m6500. It is hard to adjust to smaller screens sometimes, but I do adjust. A little more portability is sometimes worth it. Particularly with the Dell. My power brick weighs more than a MacBook Air.

 

You can still run whatever OS you want on your current laptop. Worst comes to worst, you'd need to use Windows 7 drivers or something.

Anyway, "screen real estate" to mean means screen resolution. I'd rather have a 1080p 15.6" display than a 900p 17.3" display, for example. And from 1080p on both screens, the only difference is that th screen density increases; you do not loose screen real estate.

 

I have a MBP 17" and have been thinking of moving to a 15" rMBP. The one sticking point for me is whether I want to adjust to the smaller screen size. I understand all the arguments about resolution, density, etc. I would probably run the rMBP at 1920x1200, so the desktop space would be the same. But the absolute screen size.... that's what I'm not sure if I want to compromise.

Would love to continue the discussion with whoever is interested.

 

I say depends on what you do and such. I bounce between 3 screen sizes all day ( 12.5", 15" and 17" ) and to be honest when I am working or want to watch videos or use multiple windows on the same screen I always go back to my 17" units or a unit with an external attached. if I am doing light things like crackbook, emails and wandering around the house I usually drop to one of the 15" models, but when I need to be on the run and don't need to do much heavy lifting, I grab my little 12.5" monstrosity.

 

I have a 120Hz 3d screen. Not supported without proper drivers on Windows 8.

 

I have tried Win 8. I didn't like it (I hope I am allowed to do that here). That is why my question was geared towards users who have moved from 17.3" to 15.6"?

 

Yes people have gone from 17.3" to 15.6". I want to hear replies from them.
By real estate, in case it wasn't obvious from context, what I meant was the screen size. Like I wrote, I want to work with 2 docs side by side. I wanted to know whether the smaller size is too much of a problem and whether that is offset by the higher resolution rMBPs on which text looks much better.
I have noi gaming intent. And no having a gaming intent is not a necessity for owning an AW.

 

Thank you to the few useful responses to this thread.

 

To the OP I've actually made the move from an Alienware R2 and R3 to my current Macbook Pro 15 inch. And it was the BEST DECISOIN I have ever made. The reality for me was I asked myself the simple question "Am I actually gaming Portable? Do I move my Alienware?" Because I answered no, I decided to switch to a gaming desktop and a Macbook Pro for portable use. It is the BEST setup to have IMO and I have never regretted it, I can still game on my Macbook I have a lot of games but I just go with older stuff and not exactly the newer stuff. The 750m is still a very capable card.

 

That setup sounds ideal! Thanks for the input.

 

I'd agree as well. Personally, I think that a desktop + smaller laptop setup is an overall better choice than having one large laptop for everything. And, if portability is an issue for things like gaming (say, LAN parties), you can always build a small form factor desktop that's easy to carry around, imo.

 

@ OP, I moved from a Dell Precision M6600 (17.3") to a Macbook Pro, and originally I really missed my bigger screen, but now that I have adjusted, I would never go back. While I did sacrifice some things by making my transition, the lighter weight and added probability was definitely worth the switch. I am a designer for a living and I was really worried that the loss of screen real estate would affect my work, but honestly it hasn't one bit.

Making the switch really does depend on what you are willing to sacrifice compared to what you are going to gain.

 

I've moved from a 17.3 to a 15 incher as well, only took me a few days to adjust.

 

Going from a 17 inch Alienware to a 15" rmbp will be heaven. Screen space will be just as good and you will be very happy with the weight savings.