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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Notebook Hardware
New MacBook Pro: i5 vs i7 and other questions
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<blockquote data-quote="Zoolook" data-source="post: 1182504" data-attributes="member: 21101"><p>It's hard to say without knowing what the new Macs will bring, but they're almost certainly going to be based on Sandybridge, meaning they'll be similar to the current CPUs, only slightly faster, cooler and possibly (although unlikely in my opinion) actually sport 4 real cores rather than 2.</p><p></p><p>An i5 will deal with anything you can throw at it right now, unless you're transcoding 1080p 3D video on the fly or something. Having said that, I recently also had the same choice you do and went for the i7, because it genuinely 'felt' faster. It's rare that one CPU architecture can actually feel more responsive than another of the same generation - usually you need a benchmark to notice - but the i7 is something special.</p><p></p><p>Having said that, 8GB of RAM is also noticeably better than 4, especially if you run a virtual machine or just like to leave all your apps open without rebooting or closing anything (like me).</p><p></p><p>In the end, you can decide closer to the time. If someone put a gun to my head and made me choose between the two, I'd get the i7 and 4GB of RAM and upgrade the RAM later on. You cannot upgrade the processor without extreme difficulty and expense.</p><p></p><p>Oh... and one thing you didn't mention - the biggest speed boost you'll get will be from an SSD. I really hope Apple reduce the price of these, because they're awesome.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zoolook, post: 1182504, member: 21101"] It's hard to say without knowing what the new Macs will bring, but they're almost certainly going to be based on Sandybridge, meaning they'll be similar to the current CPUs, only slightly faster, cooler and possibly (although unlikely in my opinion) actually sport 4 real cores rather than 2. An i5 will deal with anything you can throw at it right now, unless you're transcoding 1080p 3D video on the fly or something. Having said that, I recently also had the same choice you do and went for the i7, because it genuinely 'felt' faster. It's rare that one CPU architecture can actually feel more responsive than another of the same generation - usually you need a benchmark to notice - but the i7 is something special. Having said that, 8GB of RAM is also noticeably better than 4, especially if you run a virtual machine or just like to leave all your apps open without rebooting or closing anything (like me). In the end, you can decide closer to the time. If someone put a gun to my head and made me choose between the two, I'd get the i7 and 4GB of RAM and upgrade the RAM later on. You cannot upgrade the processor without extreme difficulty and expense. Oh... and one thing you didn't mention - the biggest speed boost you'll get will be from an SSD. I really hope Apple reduce the price of these, because they're awesome. [/QUOTE]
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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Notebook Hardware
New MacBook Pro: i5 vs i7 and other questions
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