Alex,
Over the last decade and a half each new laptop I bought had a bigger screen. I've always considered this an improvement. On the last purchase I debated for almost six months between the 15" and the 17". I finally got the 17" and have not regretted that decision at all. Based on my experience, you would probably be happier with a 15" instead of the 13" - and happier yet with the 17". Several people have mentioned connecting to a larger monitor at home or in the office. I use this arrangement myself and my old eyes like it a lot. If you are going this route I'd recommend getting an external monitor with the same resolution as the laptop (just a larger size) - that way, when you change from laptop to desktop monitor, everything is in the same relative position (in other words, the icons don't get re-arranged when moving to the smaller screen). This works with the high resolution 15" and std. 20" monitor or the 17" and a std. 23" monitor. For a laptop, with many applications running, the amount of RAM will make more difference than the processor speed. Get a much as possible. You didn't ask about the SSD option but I'd advise skipping it on a laptop - put the money into RAM. BTW I use an SSD on my Mini and it is fantastic. I can't stand the glossy screens, some people like them better. This is an important decision (on both the laptop and the desktop) be sure to look at both before buying.
I only run OS X so I can't offer any assistance with item 2.
I'm sure you will enjoy your new computer - no matter which one you get - today you really can't go wrong. Congratulations.
Paul Looney

On Apr 27, 2010, at 3:46 PM, Alex Tweedly wrote:


I'd like advice in two areas .....

1. Should I buy the 13-inch or the 15-inch ?
I can compare the screen sizes, and the resolution and even the relative weights. But I don't have a realistic idea of how much faster the Intel i5 is over the older Dual Core. So any advice about performance, or pointers to reliable benchmark sites for Mac ?


2. I plan to dual-boot or triple-boot OSX, Win 7 and Linux (some kind). Probably just using Bootcamp, but I might want to use VmWare or other VM later.
Any advice on setting the machine up to make this easy ?

Thanks
-- Alex.
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