Macbook Pro 13" 2.8GHz i7 vs 15" 2.6GHz i7

[williamsbh76]

I am upgrading this year to get retina and SSD. I currently have a late 2011 Macbook Pro with a 2.4GHz i7 processor, 16GB ram, 1TB hard drive, and a AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB graphics card. I am considering portability issues of the 13" vs the 15". I work in the court system and have been using my iPad in court but I will be loosing that option when the state switches us to VPN at the end of the year. In shopping I noticed that the 13" Macbook Pro maxes out with a 2.8 GHz i7 processor whereas the 15" is offered with either 2.3 GHz or 2.6GHz. I definitely want an i7. In my experience it just works better for me because I usually have Parallels with Windows 7, Word, Excel, Safari with multiple tabs, mail, and calendar open all at once, bare minimum. I do very little photo editing but I do like to play some higher memory games every now and then. Portability aside, will the 2.8GHz processor in the 13" make a big difference over the 2.3GHz or 2.6GHz in the 15"? In anyone's opinion, will it help make up the difference for the lower quality graphics card in the 13" Macbook Pro? For reference I play WoW occasionally, STO, and various console ports. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Just_Me_D]

A "big difference"? Not in my opinion. A noticeable difference? Probably, but not to the point of wow!

 

[williamsbh76]

Thank you, I will check into it. I am a contractor for my state and the IT department has gone into computer apocalypse mode. We have to provide our own computers and independent ISPs, but we use a net based program they provide. I have been given the installation disk to run the program on my computer which will prevent us from viewing any other websites while logged in. I have a way around that because the program is windows based so it only affects my parallels virtual machine. Safari and other browsers on the Mac side are unaffected. I haven't really looked into what I can do for my iPad but will definitely do so. Any advice on where to start is appreciated.

 

[williamsbh76]

I will do that once I install it and may follow up with you. Thank you again. I know just enough to be dangerous lol. And by the way, you were right about the 13" MacBook Pro processor maxing out at a dual core. I wish Apple gave the same processor and graphic card options between the two models but oh well.

 

[James Vang]

Agreed