Kevin,
I had thought like you that a 17" is required for serious use... but daughter got a Macbook Pro last week with the 13.x retina screen and a quick I5 and it's an impressive machine- even the weird Force Touch makes sense. Only issue is HD space: manufacturers still charge a premium but I see Newegg had 1T SSD last week for $350, so the days of $300 extra to go 250G to 512G presumably soon will be gone. Also re your keyboard- not sure if you had a HP chicklet keyboard before? Took me a while to get used to it. Anyway, let us know if your eyes let you down with the smaller screen or any other observations.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
