MacBookPro8,2

After suffering with an underperforming Windows Vista HP Elitebook for almost two weeks, I finally took delivery of my built to order MBP.  Getting an MBP was an easy decision after eliminating the MBA.  The question of which MBP was the big question.

I have been using the 13" MBP for over a year and am well aware of its shortcoming and strengths.  The newer 13" has a faster CPU but a somewhat weaker graphics card.  I am attracted to the hardware of the 15" but not entirely enthused about the extra 500g.  I already find the 13" a little heavy.  17" is out of the question since I do need some mobility.

The 15" was a fairly easy choice when I literally ran out of screen real estate on the 13" during a coding session when I was hard flipping between eclipse and the reference webpage on chrome.   The 15" would have fit both windows nicely so I went around Apple distributors testing if I can accept carrying the 15" around.. the verdict.. I still hated the weight but loved what the 15" had to offer.  Since I wanted the 15" for the hardware and forsook mobility, I considered only the higher end 15".

There were 2 more choices.

First, the harddisk.  Upgrading to a 128GB SSD costs only S$140 with a potential speed boost towards c.  The huge question is if I can live with what is, by today's measure, a puny hard disk.  A quick check with my 13" revealed that I kept well within 100GB.  That's because my photos and most of my other junk are all on an external hdd.  Still, I will be taking a risk should my need for space grow later on.  Fortunately, with the falling price of SSD (or at least that's the hope), I can get a faster one a couple of years on.

The other is a less mutable change.  I was definitely going for the high-resolution screen since screen real estate was my main reason for getting a 15".  This presents a somewhat difficult choice of anti-glare or nice glass screen.  Personally, I didn't really enjoy the silver bezel of my previous MBA.  The glass screen of the later 13" MBP was quite a blessing in terms of ease of maintenance and, I admit, vanity.  The black, one piece surface just looks so much nicer and the colours simply pop off the screen.

OTOH, I have suffered with glare on many many occasions.  I expect to carry my MBP around a bit and do some work around less ideal lighting conditions.  In the end, usability in less ideal lighting, which with the glass surface means just about everywhere, won over aesthetics.  I will have to work a bit harder to maintain the screen cleanliness but as a bonus, the 15" is about 100g lighter.

So far, I am enjoying the speed of the SSD and am very very happy with the AG screen.  Colours still pops although I'm certain the glass screen would have looked better.  I'm still in the midst of setting up the environment with all the office packages and stuff.  So far, I am enjoying my purchase.

And I really need to get stronger.