I had (still have) the maxed out 17" MacBook "lapzilla" but loved it for the power and really need a big screen to get real work done (coding/gamedev/data etc). I am now usually surrounded by 3 27" screens, if the laptop is just for demos and meetings probably could be smaller but if I have to work on it for any amount of time it needs to be a big screen.

I would still dig a pro 17" thicker and more powerful MacBook.