MacBook Pro - 17" vs. 15"

[M A V I C]

I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. I will travel with it often, so I think the 17" might be a bit much. I had a 15" PB before, and currently have a 12" PB. The ease of travel of the 12 vs the 15 is noticeable. I like that, for $300 more with the 17 I get: bigger screen, extra USB port and a larger HD.

I was at the Apple store yesterday, held both. Coming from a 12 the 15 was awkward enough.

With cost not really being a factor, which would you get in my situation?

[Tofer]

I say go for the 15". If you want the bigger screen (at least for home or office use), get an external monitor.

-Tofer

[M A V I C]

For home/office use, I have a nice setup already. I'm looking for something to travel with. The extra USB port is really appealing.

[AlphaDog]

You've already answered your own question. You like the 12" better than the 15" for traveling, so why even consider the 17"? You know the bigger it gets, the more awkward it will be.

[St. Bernard]

I'd say it largely comes down to where you think you're going to use it. If you need something really on the go (to quickly check/send email or calendar), a BlackBerry or iPhone may be more useful. If you're cranking on planes, you may want to just stick with the 12" (even *that* can be too big). If you're looking for a mobile office, I'd go with the 17" myself.

[M A V I C]

[quote AlphaDog] so why even consider the 17"?
The 17" comes stock with a bigger HD and has an extra USB port. The bigger screen would be nice, but I obviously already get away with the 12"... so I guess it matters how much I really want that USB port :/

[N-OS X-tasy!]

[quote M A V I C]For home/office use, I have a nice setup already. I'm looking for something to travel with. The extra USB port is really appealing.
What AlphaDog said. Get the 15" and a small USB hub.

[M A V I C]

[quote St. Bernard]I'd say it largely comes down to where you think you're going to use it. If you need something really on the go (to quickly check/send email or calendar), a BlackBerry or iPhone may be more useful. If you're cranking on planes, you may want to just stick with the 12" (even *that* can be too big). If you're looking for a mobile office, I'd go with the 17" myself.
I already have moto Q (WM5) for email and such. I should probably explain more what I'll use it for...

Mainly on photo shoots. About once a month I fly to a photo shoot where I take a ton of pictures, create a slideshow, then a gallery and burn that to about 100-200 discs, then I fly back.

One of the last shoots I did I filled up my 60GB HD and the PB slowed to a crawl. Plus, the galleries are getting so huge they take hours to build so HD size is important (the less full they are, the faster they are.) Also, when I burn the discs I currently have four external burners but can only use 3. That's because I only have 2 USB and 1 FW port. So if I had the 17", I'd have the extra port and could then cut my burn time down by a quarter. It currently takes about six hours to build the galleries and another six hours to burn discs.

[M A V I C]

[quote N-OS X-tasy!] Get the 15" and a small USB hub.
A USB hub doesn't help. Aside from being another thing to haul around, it splits the bus bandwidth and thus causes the burners to burn slower. I've done a lot of testing around this, and found that when two burners share the same bus they slow each other down to the point that it's not worth it.

But I don't really want to haul around something so big I wish Apple made 15" PB with the same features as the 17".

[St. Bernard]

If money is really no object, you should go all out: 17" w/ 3GB RAM and the 160GB HD. Sounds like it won't be wasted with what you're doing and, in fact, I would think the 17" screen would be quite beneficial.