Best buy? i7 or 8 GB RAM

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Jonas.e


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I'm planning to buy the new Macbook pro 15" and I was wondering witch option would be the best. Spending some extra cash on the i7 or going with the i5 an getting the aditional 8GB RAM. I will be using the computer in architecture related work like CAD, rendering in maya and rhino, and using the adobe suit.

Thankfull for any tips.....
 
pigoo3

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If I had to choose one...get the i7...upgrade the ram later.

Or just get the i5...and wait till later to do the ram.

- Nick
 
Raz0rEdge

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Since RAM is something you can upgrade yourself, upgrade to the i7 now and when you feel the default RAM isn't cutting it, upgrade..

Regards
 
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Raz0rEdge said:
Since RAM is something you can upgrade yourself, upgrade to the i7 now and when you feel the default RAM isn't cutting it, upgrade..

Regards
Click to expand...

I would offer the same advice. Since you are going to do one or the other, go with the i7 and then upgrade the RAM yourself when you need the extra. You will be able to do it a bit cheaper than what Apple charges for the RAM upgrade.
 
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Thanks for the advice, maby I'll just stick with the i5 and consider upgrading RAM later if i feel i need to...
 
DarkestRitual

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i5 is fast... i7 is stupid fast. Go i7.
 
CrimsonRequiem

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Get the fastest processor you can afford. For future proofing, as well as resale value. RAM from Apple is overpriced and you can upgrade this yourself for a fraction of that price.
 
pigoo3

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CrimsonRequiem said:
Get the fastest processor you can afford. For future proofing, as well as resale value. RAM from Apple is overpriced and you can upgrade this yourself for a fraction of that price.
Click to expand...

This statement could be a "Sticky" for almost any post asking about "cpu or ram upgrade" for a new computer...which we've had a lot of lately.;)

- Nick
 
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I agree...the i7 is the man...rediculasly stupid fast.
 
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I7 vs I5

Just ordered my first iMac....27 I5 2.66 4GB 1TB. I read somewhere that there were different versions of the I5 and the I7. I believe that the later I5 was basically a 1st gen I7. Anyone know if that is true?
 
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Being a very recent switcher myself.. (17" MBP, i7, 4GB ram).. go with the i7.. i agree with the others where you can always upgrade the ram on your own at another time... upgrading the processor is (impossible?)
 
DarkestRitual

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blewis99 said:
Just ordered my first iMac....27 I5 2.66 4GB 1TB. I read somewhere that there were different versions of the I5 and the I7. I believe that the later I5 was basically a 1st gen I7. Anyone know if that is true?
Click to expand...

No. There is a quad core i5, the original version, that does NOT support hyper threading and is clocked at 2.66GHz... there is now a quad core i5 that still does not support hyperthreading clocked at 2.8GHz. The i7 in the last gen iMacs was clocked at 2.8GHz, and the new quad i7 is clocked at 2.93GHz. BOTH support hyperthreading.

Now, you can get a dual core i5 iMac clocked at 3.6GHz. This chip does support hyperthreading for 4 virtual cores at 1.8GHz each, as well as turbo boost to overclock a single core.
 
bobtomay

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That dual core i5 clocked at 3.6 Ghz also takes twice as long to encode a video using Handbrake vs the i3 that comes standard in the machine from the reports I've read - it is not a worthy upgrade at a $200 premium. It took about 3x longer than the 2.8Ghz i5 quad core.

It's getting harder and harder to know which chip does what and where it's ranked in the line up.
 
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DarkestRitual said:
No. There is a quad core i5, the original version, that does NOT support hyper threading and is clocked at 2.66GHz... there is now a quad core i5 that still does not support hyperthreading clocked at 2.8GHz. The i7 in the last gen iMacs was clocked at 2.8GHz, and the new quad i7 is clocked at 2.93GHz. BOTH support hyperthreading.

Now, you can get a dual core i5 iMac clocked at 3.6GHz. This chip does support hyperthreading for 4 virtual cores at 1.8GHz each, as well as turbo boost to overclock a single core.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info!!!
 
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bobtomay said:
That dual core i5 clocked at 3.6 Ghz also takes twice as long to encode a video using Handbrake vs the i3 that comes standard in the machine from the reports I've read - it is not a worthy upgrade at a $200 premium. It took about 3x longer than the 2.8Ghz i5 quad core.

It's getting harder and harder to know which chip does what and where it's ranked in the line up.
Click to expand...

So true....Hope I am happy with this one. Mostly for the kids and my Photoshop stuff...should do just fine
 

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