So was working on my 4 year old windows laptop this morning and she decided it was her time to retire. Luckily I always backed everything up on an external hard drive so nothing was lost. Well now it's time to start looking at a new laptop, and since I am enjoying the app world was thinking about getting a macbook pro. My question is what do you all suggest? 13 vs 15? new vs refurbished? Which processor?

I just got my new MB Pro on Monday. 15" retina display 2.7GHz. 16GB RAM Extremely fast. Thank God my employer paid for it! I could not justify the price on my own, but if you have that kind of coin, go for it.

I would love one of those, however that type of coin probably wont happen. I was thinking about a 13" 8GB 750GBhard 2.9GHz i7 but didn't know if 13 was too small for programming

I recently obtained a 13" MBP, and although I miss the screen size of my old 17" and 15", I love the weight and since I use two screens anyway, I still get good real estate. I 'program' on the 13" and I 'test' on the second monitor. It works fine. Cheers! -- Smug Edit: Since Mac seems to have done away with 'spaces', I now use 'total spaces', a $20 utility that brings the same use and functionality. I find it indispensable, especially with a 13" screen.

Have you checked out Stobe podcast on this? http://idevdepot.com/episode13/ Might want to listen before you run to the store. Whole new world ....once you go mac you never go back....ok ok I had to say it....

Thanks Sheri! What's everyone's opinion on this http://www.macofalltrades.com/Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-inch-Antiglare-2-53GHz-2009-p/mbp-15-253-m09a.htm

That's the same model I upgraded from. It's not bad at all. But between you and me, I bought the new faster newer 13" for a couple of hundred more than that; and it's a 2012 model. If that were a hundred or two cheaper, I'd go for it. But it's not. My 13" came with a 500GB drive (which I promptly swapped out for a 1TB hybrid) and 4GB ram (which I really want to bump up to 8). I think I paid $999 at best buy while I was in Hawaii... Cheers! -- Smug

Smug is this the one that you got by chance? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Apple%26%23174%3B+-+MacBook%26%23174%3B+Pro+-+13.3%26%2334%3B+Display+-+4GB+Memory+-+500GB+Hard+Drive/5430505.p?id=1218646127726&skuId=5430505#tab=overview

Not entirely sure; but it's close. It listed for $1199... Mine has the 2.5G i5 http://www.apple.com/why-mac/compare/notebooks.html Cheers! -- Smug

Well finally pulled the trigger. Just ordered/bought a early 2011 13" with a 2.7 i7, 8GB/500GB running the newest os x. I have a pretty good monitor that I plan to hook it up too when I need a larger screen. I also am unsure if I want to upgrade the 500 to a 1TB or if I should just get a portable external hard drive? I was thinking if I had a portable external hard drive I would be able to jump from computer to computer with it.??

Congratulations! 500-1TB should work. I have a 1TB internal. Feels good to have all those gigs, lol! for "computer to computer" I almost always use my drop box. Or a USB Stick. Regardless of what you end up with, make sure you get a good 'Time Machine' (Backup) drive as well. That's important. Cheers! -- Smug

Thanks smug. That's why I was thinking about getting a portable hd, for backup purposes and to also serve as a LARGE "USB stick". I rarely will probably do anything on any other computer, but it would be nice to have that option to do so if the time comes.