HACKER Q&A
📣 throwaway_43793

Gonna travel and work. Should I get 16“ or 14” MacBook Pro?


I'm planning to travel for some time and working on my software engineering side projects. I use Mac Mini at home, and obviously I'm going to sell it and get myself a Macbook instead.

I'm, however, not sure which one. I have 16" that was given to me by my employer (gonna quit the job, so will have to return it), but I never really worked off it. It's docked 99% to dual monitor setup.

If I get the 14" it will be the 2023 model, if I get the 16" it will be the 2021 model (odd price difference that makes 2021 14" more expensive than 2021 16", but the opposite in 2023 models, weird).

The rationale behind getting 16" is - bigger screen. On the other hand, I'm going to eventually settle back home and will probably keep the Macbook docked to a normal dual monitor station, so from that point of view, getting the 14" makes more sense.

One other consideration is that I mainly do development, and I do it in Neovim. Other than Neovim, I just use the browser, email, and sometimes photo editing software. And while it is true that 16" gives more screen real estate, I'm also not the person who has an IDE open with a terminal, file browser and whatever. I utilize Neovim and tmux heavily, and prefer to have one thing on a screen and use MacOS spaces/desktops feature.

What do you think?

  👤 surprisetalk Accepted Answer ✓
You'll have a smaller selection of good bags with a 16".

14" has been plenty for me.

Getting a TWM like Amethyst helps a lot with the small real estate.

[1] https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst

👤 KeyXiote
I love my 14" M2, I considered the 16" but price is definitely a consideration as well as portability. I find the screen to be perfectly adequate for code and multitasking on the go as well as media consumptio, routine tasks etc. The 14" has some heft as well and can only imagin that the 16" would be heaver for when you are on the move. At home I use an external monitor, I also find myself with it in my lap. Personal preference and use case will always be a decision you have to make. Hope this helps.
👤 kidgorgeous
14" way more economical. Size, weight. When I look at my 16" (which I don't even use anymore), I get frustrated at the thought of even having to lift it.
👤 willcate
I'd go for the 14". I've been using a 2019 16" MBP for three years and it feels like carrying around an cinder-block.
👤 eesmith
A few years back I went from 15" to 14". Thought it would be a problem. Hasn't been.
👤 chrism238
There’s no chance of using a 16inch laptop on a plane, in economy.