Originally Posted by mstraveler
I am now really struggling with the 12" vs 15" decision. My current laptop is a Dell Latitude w/o drives and is compact and light. I have loved the fact that as a relatively small woman I can haul it around airports without getting back pain. I have already decided on DVD/CD drive this time (the lack of weight was nice, but the lack of drive got to be a pain at times...) but am balking at the difference in weight with the 15" (although I must admit that when it comes to the screen size matters!)
Any input from anyone on the "under the hood differences" btw the two? I know there are some, but am just not sure how much they matter.
MTIA
I have the 12 and 17 inch and my wife has the 15 inch but she doesnt travel. The only difference I have noticed is that the 12 inch doesnt have a OC card slot. Initially that was a problem for me because I wanted to read IBM microdrives and CF cards and used a PC card adapter to do that. However, I recently bought a memory card reader that plugs into a USB 2 slot from ecost.com for like $14 that solved the problem. It plugs into the USB slot and reads reads most all memory card formats including microdrives and is really compact so it stays in my briefcase.
I think the real difference between the 12 inch and the larger ones is as much or more form factor than weight. The 15 inch and especially the 17 inch are really wide. They wont fit in all of my various bags well. The 12 inch will fit in about anything I have. I can even fit it in my little Head Porter metrosexual bag if I leave the padded case off. To me the flexibility in packing is really important. Ive travelled with the 17 inch once or twice and it is a struggle to get it out of the bag going through security and crap. Really depends on whether the portability or size are more important for you.