is the MBP 17" too big to carry around?

hi,
i am waiting until macworld too order a mbp, i was pretty much set on the 15inch model, but the more i read about the wuxga screen on the 17inch edition the more thought i am giving it, but i would like to have the option of carrying the notebook around, should i need too, and i would like somehting very sturdy with atleast 2.5hrs of batt life>
is the 17inch still worth a look for me, it costs about 300 more based on my config.
thanks a lot

 

absolutely worth a look, the battery life is absolutely not an issue, as it will easily get over 2.5 hrs

and in terms of carrying around, I basically carry my 17" MBP around every single day, I am an animation student so I usually need to work in studio and at home, and I have absolutely no problems carrying it back and forth, it is the lightest 17" machine available, while it is slightly heavier than the 15", I have heard way more people say they regret not getting the 17" than the other way around. I would highly recommend going for the 17" if you can afford it.

 

also, forgot to mention, definitely upgrade the ram yourself later on if you plan on using 4gb, it is extremely cheap and easy to do it yourself.

 

hi okay thanks, i can somewhat justify the extra cost, the only thing is, wont the 15inch feel much sturdier in my hand, ie cause its smaller.
the specs i was taking on the 15inch where t7700, 4gb ram, 200gb at 7200 rpm...this was all coming preconfigued from apple thru a reseller, so i am not paying apples ridiculous upgrade charges, this spec came to 2850 usd. but with a suppposed upgrade coming at macworld, i am waiting, i dont mind a bit of heft, but i once owned a 17inch mbp and it wasnt very sturdy feeling compared to my sisters new 15mbp, but the one i had was about a year and bit ago...
all in all, you dont find it too bulky to carry and it feels just as sturdy as the 15inch in yor opinion, like when you hold it in one hand, it doesnt feel as though its gonna snap...my old one felt somehting like this so i returned it.
whats your batt life...again thanks for all the help.
is the ram apple uses the same as the newegg ram for 200?
thanks
would u still recommend the wuxga if i dont do animation...photoshop , but mostly office work, and web browising, music, junk like that, but lots of multitaksing.

 

it looks like you use a WUXGA 17" screen all ready so you should really be the judge of that, and from the looks of your current machine, what is prompting the upgrade? looking to switch to OS X?

it looks like you have determined each aspect of your questions, and have experience in all of them, so really it is just up to you to decide.

 

hey thanks for all the quick help,
well i am actually exchanging my current unit for a mbp, just stuck on whether to go 15 or 17 inch.
15 inch is easier i believe to carry around and sturdier from my past experience, but perhaps, and hopefull the new ones are sturdier.
ive never seen the apple wuxga...the asus' was nice, but kinda small for text and browsing, but it was kinda necessary consdering the machine played 1080p and had hdmi and all that, so thats why i took wuxga on that unit, but for basic computing do you think its a good option to take the 1920 x 1200 screen on the mac, and do you find it very sturdy and solid, well built and durable...
the screen isnt led, correct?>
again thanks for all the help, just reading about how amazing that screen was, prompted me to consider the 17inch unit...thanks a lot

 

Yes, the 17-inch MBP doesn't have an LED-backlit display (17-inch LED-backlit displays aren't available yet), but everyone I know who has the 1920x1200 17-inch MBP absolutely loves it. I personally think its too much, but that's just me. It'll be really helpful in Photoshop though.

 

sam by too much...do you mean money or its overkill...just to clarify?
also, thanks a lot, im just trying to figure out whether doing office work on a wuxga monitor will strain my eyes more than i want...
thanks a lot
u thi8nk wiht the penryn upgrade theyll use led s on the 17inch too.
thanks

 

I mean as in it makes the text and everything too small...just too high a resolution for me.

It will really depend on yourself. I find the higher resolution hard to use, some love the higher resolution.

And no, there hasn't really been any mention recently about 17-inch LED-backlit displays arriving, so even if Apple wanted, there just isn't any supply of 17-inch LED-backlit displays to put into the 17-inch MBPs.

 

i thought the same way until I used my WUXGA, any program that text may be to small in is easily resized, and I don't find myself resizing things at all anyway.

the amount of pixels per inch on this screen, higher than any other lcd screen I have seen, unless there is a 15" WUXGA.

most parts of an OS and major programs have become easily scalable, before, I would have agreed with Sam, now, it is pretty hard to look at any other display unless it is very very high end, and be happy.

 

i used a wuxga 17 on my laptop and found the resolution really high and reading a bit strainig, but i only really used it for a week or so...i guess i never got used to the high resolution?>
do u find th elight is equally distributed and bright enough despite no led/
thanks a lot
hows batt life at full brightness?
thanks

 

I had a 15" 1920x1200 display in my Inspiron 8600. Gosh that thing was marvelous. And Dell have never had such a high-res since in such a small screen. That said, I do sort-of think the 17" is overkill. Now, take this from someone who owned a 17" XPS Gen. 2 and an M1710. I'm just glad I don't have to lug them around anymore. I understand being a student and doing video work, as I'm a broadcast journalist and do a lot of video editing. That said, I don't have trouble on my 1440x900 display on my MBP, though I maintain this laptop should have had a 1680x1050 display. That said, for times when I really have to bring out the big guns, I have my 24" 1080p display, so that solves that problem. Portability when I need it (15.4"), and nuc-u-lar weapons when I need them - 24".

 

I wouldn't worry about it not being bright enough because its not LED-backlit. CCFL-backlighting has no issues really, I consider LED-backlighting to be an "exclusive, almost unnecessary but helpful" feature. CCFL-backlighting is already pretty bright.

 

a Dell 17" notebook and a 17" MBP aren't even in the same category when it comes to portability, the weight gain and size going from a 15" to 17" MBP is really quite minute really.

i really don't understand why people think someone can answer this question for them though, I don't know what you will find inconvenient, just use the personal experience you have, go to the stores, and let your own experience be the judge.

 

ok thanks.
i wansnt really asking which would be better for me, but trying to figure out whther the 17 inch is less sturdy feeling, solid feeling than the 15inch edition.
but anyway,
thanks a lot for all the help

 

the 17" is obviously a lot heavier.. depends on you really 'cause i don't think you want to drop your precious =].. go to an Apple store and try to hold it for about 1 min to see how it feels

 

It is a little big to carry around under your arm outside your home. I'd recommend getting a shoulder bag for it.

 

Hey circa when are you going to publish your 17" mbp review?

 

i dnt find 6.6 pounds or so that heavy, but just the sheer size and dimensions of a 17 inch are not the most portable.
anyway, ill go see.
thanks a lot

 

Isnt 1920x1080 native res for blu-ray?

 

give me a few more days, just finishing up some benchmarks and taking photos.

 

Sweet! I can't wait!

 

Yes, Blu Ray plays Full HD, which is 1920x1080 (1080p).

 

would blu-ray look as good on a mbp compared to say a plasma or lcd?

 

Only if it has 1080P which is the WUXGA screen.

 

its hard to notice the difference between a regular dvd and a bluray on a 15 or 17 inch monitor thats 1080 p, as the res is already insanely high proportionally...you would need at least a 40 inch hd lcd or something to really notice a huge difference betweena dvd and an hd dvd because of various factors that bigger lcds and plasmas offer, over small high res laptop monitors., personally.
niqui

 

^^^^no way, in all reality, a 17" WUXGA moniter should look way better than a massive 1080p tv. just think about it, even more pixels than tohe 1080p tv crammed into a much much smaller area, the pixel density of these screens is really pretty amazing.

a regular DVD looks pretty bad on any laptop screen nowadays really, just in terms of the actual size video that DVDs provide.

the only reason a larger HDTV may look better is due to how it presents the picture, brightness, black levels, etc.

 

Yeh I only have a 1280x800 screen and dvd's look dreadful... so i was hoping that blu ray would preform considerably better!