title: Which to use Auth::check() or Auth::user() - Laravel 5.1?
body: <p>If I want to check whether the user is logged in within my Laravel 5.1 application I can either use</p>
  
  <pre><code>if (Auth::user()) {...}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>or </p>
  
  <pre><code>if (Auth::check()) {...}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>is there a reason to prefer one over the other when checking if a user is logged in?</p>