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Windows admin here and looking at getting a MacBook Pro. I have used Macs for years to manage and work with a Windows network so this is more of a question of power/portability.

The 13” is lighter, smaller, and less powerful. The 15” is 1lb heavier, bigger, and more powerful. I prefer light but when running 1-2 Windows VMs the dual core CPU might not be enough? Plus anything graphics wise I was not sure how the 13 would do over the 15. FYI this is for the 2017 MBP

Curious what others have used or recommend in this area?

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I personally have a 13" pro (late 2012) with the 2.5ghz i5, 8gb 1600mhz RAM, and upgraded the ssd to a 480gb drive. I personally love having a 13" after having a 17" in the past and configuring 15"ers for users. When doing administration at various locations and sites and going into different closets, the smaller the better. I run various VM’s on it, primarily utilize windows, and run Packet Tracer etc for various labs. It COULD be more beefy, but I have also utilized 3d applications like Cinema 4d and motion graphics like After Effects on it for various projects. It gets the job done. I personally will stick with a 13".

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I’ve got a personal older 13" Macbook Pro - intel core duo I think …

Upgraded to 8gb ram & SSD drive - it’s great at most things - just doesn’t run fast graphics- not by todays standards.

I do use it for work for out of hours stuff - I just use Microsoft Remote Desktop to get into either the servers or my workstation.

For working on the move, it’s great - 13" is big enough to use, but not too big. For static working I tend to connect a large monitor, keyboard & mouse - and go multiscreen…

but then at work I do work on 3x22" monitors and I’m mostly doing coding of some description - so being able to see the code and result alongside each other is nice.

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This is good feedback esp since you have used the Adobe products as well as VMs. My guess is that it would do just fine.

I have used both as trials and if I did not have a desktop setup (monitor, keyboard, & mouse) I would have the 15. But since I dock I think the 13” would be good.

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Like said, I have a Macbook Pro 13" 2012 Late Model. It has 16gb with an i7 customer ordered. I replaced the DVD and standard Driver with two 960 Sandisj SSD HDD Drives. So it small and fast. Im using VMware Fusion for my VM’s on the mac, I have about 5 VM’s 1 Win 7 Pro, 1 Win 8.1 Pro, and 1 Win 10 Pro, and 1 Win 10 Ent and Linux Ubuntu all for SysAdmin/Net Admin stuff. That my 2 cents for what you could do…

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Good input so far.

I’m still using a Late 2011 13" MBPro with 2 SSDs (drive mount in the optical bay) and 8 GB RAM. Have a W7 and W10 Pro VM that I use fairly regularly.

I’ve used both VMWare Fusion and Parallels, and for running local VMs I prefer Parallels, you might want to trial both before deciding on one over the other.

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I actually prefer Parallels as well. While the yearly updates have been “ok” the performance and ease of use is great.

What have you been sitting your VMs at HW wise with so many Windows VMs?

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I used to use a 15" MBP 2011 (gave it to my wife) with upgraded RAM (16GB) and a SSD as my primary workstation. It runs like new! Used it to administer my Windows environment, network, security, etc. running Windows 10 Pro with Parallels. I now use the new 15" MBP 2017 model and it is amazingly fast. You cannot go wrong using a Mac. Hope this helps.

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I’ve got a late 2012 model too as mentioned by other posters, the good thing about those is that it was easily upgraded and you could easily replace the storage, memory and other parts. Not the case with the new ones.

I’d recommend going for the most RAM possible, you can always use an external drive for storage.

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I saw VMs as a necessity. To me that means go for the cores.

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The cores are what has me thinking of the 15, that as well as the RAM bump you get by default. The issue is size for just portability. It is definitely bigger when in a meeting or on a plane.