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I downsized from a 15" MBP to a 13" M1 Air, and I haven't felt much pain from the smaller screen. My approach to IDE-driven development is about the same on bo

I downsized from a 15" MBP to a 13" M1 Air, and I haven't felt much pain from the smaller screen. My approach to IDE-driven development is about the same on both. The big difference is solo laptop vs laptop+external monitor(s). As someone who travels frequently, the M1 Air has been simply amazing. It's so small and sturdy, and fairly light compared to the bigger/bulkier/heavier 15 I had before... and I'm at far less risk of breaking the screen while it's in my bag. The bigger machines have a much greater surface area which the contents of the backpack can put pressure against. So the larger screen laptops are more susceptible to being pressed too hard near the middle of their screens and breaking. I wish there were some ultra-rigid screen backs which would eliminate that concern. I don't need something as serious as a Panasonic Toughbook, but something with some arched curved ridges to add strength would be nice.

zadjii 3y ago
I kinda followed a similar trajectory. Started with a 15" MBP (2011) for years, and was super happy with that. It was a beast. But it was also a tank of a laptop. Then I got a Surface Pro 3. It was FAR more portable, enough to make me realize just how much less portable my MBP was. I couldn't bear to bring the 15" back out. However, the SP3 was definitely too small of a screen for dedicated work. Great for college & notetaking, but reliant on external displays. Now I've been using a 13" surface laptop for a few years and that's really struck me as the right portability vs productivity balance. 13 inches is big enough for two columns of code, and fits in basically any backpack pouch easy. I probably won't be going back to 15" when this dies.
ghaff 3y ago
Over the years, I've gone back and forth on laptop size. I used an 11" (?) Asus Chromebook for my light-duty travel laptop for ages but there really isn't a high-quality substitute these days and, honestly, I'm hard-put to complain too much about my 14" MacBook Pro and, if I did as much travel as I used to, I'd just get a MacBook Pro Air. At one level I wish they still made a smaller model but, honestly, when you add up the weight of chargers and other associated electronics, the difference isn't much and the keyboard on a 13" laptop is pretty much what I want.
anonzzzies 3y ago
> Toughbook I bought and old one second hand a few years ago and it is actually nice; bulky but light enough and really unbreakable. So when backpacking it is a good companion that can be used as a little flat table, can be used in the heat, cold and in the rain, you can drop drinks on it, drop it and beat someone’s head it before getting to work. The only real disadvantage is the battery life, so I carry a spare which works for me when on trips.
bpye 3y ago
My personal laptop is an M1 MacBook Pro 13”, the device I use most frequently for work is a Surface Pro X. I really appreciate having a small, relatively lightweight device that I can easily carry without worrying about it. I don’t really feel hindered by the screen size of either except for some specific cases - code review in Azure DevOps can be a bit cramped for example. If I’m doing serious work for more than a couple hours I almost always have an external monitor to plug into though.
LegitShady 3y ago
I gradually went from 17” to 15” to 13” laptops for my personal machines. The main thing I miss is the expansive keyboards on the bigger machines. The 17” ones even had a number pad, and some my 15” ones did too. My current work laptop is a 15” Thinkpad P15 Gen2 with an i9-11950H, 64gb of ram, and an rtx 3080 mobile. It’s a beast but very reasonably sized for its specs. It’s a little bit chunky but I wouldn’t expect anything less with a high performance cpu and gpa. Lots of ports, 15” OLED display. I love it, even if the battery life is abysmal. It’s a workstation. But my personal machine needs to be small enough to throw in a bag and not think about, so its a Ryzen powered thinkpad X13. The screen is a little dim and the battery life is way worse than a comparable dell XPS 13, but it was inexpensive and does everything I need. The major downside to the size is the keyboard is also shrunk, so lots of typing sucks. The biggest problem with both machines, and its true of all thinkpads, is that Lenovo put the function button on the leftmost of the lowest row instead of ctrl button and I often try to copy paste and accidentally hit the function key instead of control. I ended up getting a mouse with some extra buttons and I’ve assigned one of them as ctrl instead, but it would be better if the ctrl button would just be where it was supposed to be.

zadjii 3y ago

I kinda followed a similar trajectory. Started with a 15" MBP (2011) for years, and was super happy with that. It was a beast. But it was also a tank of a laptop. Then I got a Surface Pro 3. It was FAR more portable, enough to make me realize just how much less portable my MBP was. I couldn't bear to bring the 15" back out. However, the SP3 was definitely too small of a screen for dedicated work. Great for college & notetaking, but reliant on external displays. Now I've been using a 13" surface laptop for a few years and that's really struck me as the right portability vs productivity balance. 13 inches is big enough for two columns of code, and fits in basically any backpack pouch easy. I probably won't be going back to 15" when this dies.

ghaff 3y ago

Over the years, I've gone back and forth on laptop size. I used an 11" (?) Asus Chromebook for my light-duty travel laptop for ages but there really isn't a high-quality substitute these days and, honestly, I'm hard-put to complain too much about my 14" MacBook Pro and, if I did as much travel as I used to, I'd just get a MacBook Pro Air. At one level I wish they still made a smaller model but, honestly, when you add up the weight of chargers and other associated electronics, the difference isn't much and the keyboard on a 13" laptop is pretty much what I want.

anonzzzies 3y ago

> Toughbook I bought and old one second hand a few years ago and it is actually nice; bulky but light enough and really unbreakable. So when backpacking it is a good companion that can be used as a little flat table, can be used in the heat, cold and in the rain, you can drop drinks on it, drop it and beat someone’s head it before getting to work. The only real disadvantage is the battery life, so I carry a spare which works for me when on trips.

bpye 3y ago

My personal laptop is an M1 MacBook Pro 13”, the device I use most frequently for work is a Surface Pro X. I really appreciate having a small, relatively lightweight device that I can easily carry without worrying about it. I don’t really feel hindered by the screen size of either except for some specific cases - code review in Azure DevOps can be a bit cramped for example. If I’m doing serious work for more than a couple hours I almost always have an external monitor to plug into though.

LegitShady 3y ago

I gradually went from 17” to 15” to 13” laptops for my personal machines. The main thing I miss is the expansive keyboards on the bigger machines. The 17” ones even had a number pad, and some my 15” ones did too. My current work laptop is a 15” Thinkpad P15 Gen2 with an i9-11950H, 64gb of ram, and an rtx 3080 mobile. It’s a beast but very reasonably sized for its specs. It’s a little bit chunky but I wouldn’t expect anything less with a high performance cpu and gpa. Lots of ports, 15” OLED display. I love it, even if the battery life is abysmal. It’s a workstation. But my personal machine needs to be small enough to throw in a bag and not think about, so its a Ryzen powered thinkpad X13. The screen is a little dim and the battery life is way worse than a comparable dell XPS 13, but it was inexpensive and does everything I need. The major downside to the size is the keyboard is also shrunk, so lots of typing sucks. The biggest problem with both machines, and its true of all thinkpads, is that Lenovo put the function button on the leftmost of the lowest row instead of ctrl button and I often try to copy paste and accidentally hit the function key instead of control. I ended up getting a mouse with some extra buttons and I’ve assigned one of them as ctrl instead, but it would be better if the ctrl button would just be where it was supposed to be.