2011 MBA - 11.6" - 1.6 i5 or 1.8 i7

[bacan1]

Will I notice any difference? I'm mainly web browsing, e-mailing, some Aperture use but not frequent, and watching videos from iTunes.

My main concern is battery life and heat, so if the faster processor will likely have a big impact on either of these, I'll stick to the slower one. Any thoughts?

[Oppressed]

Wait for benchmarks.

[MacRumorUser]

Wait for benchmarks.

Waiting is depressing when you want to order NOW ;) :D

[HawkBYU]

I'm in the same boat... I think I am going to stick with the i5 since I really want the 256GB HD and I can't justify spending $1649. $1499 is already more than I wanted to spend.

[bk123]

same issue..
anyone know about apples return policy?
if for some reson i wanna downgrde or even buy from best buy or something

[mac jones]

I just grabbed a 11" i7

I can't believe they are stuffing in i7s into these little things.

The fans are really going to get a a workout :D

[mac jones]

This has caught everybody off guard. At most everybody thought a 1.6 i5 for the 11" but not a 1.8 i7, no way.

I'm typing on a 1.6 core2 11" Air right now, but the new one must be twice as fast as this.

[KPOM]

Will I notice any difference? I'm mainly web browsing, e-mailing, some Aperture use but not frequent, and watching videos from iTunes.

My main concern is battery life and heat, so if the faster processor will likely have a big impact on either of these, I'll stick to the slower one. Any thoughts?

For what you describe, the Core i5 should be sufficient. The Core 2 Duo was fine for that, even for limited Aperture usage, though the Core i5 will be significantly faster than the old model.

I went with the 1.8GHz Core i7 "Ultimate 11," but primarily for ego than anything else, now that the MacBook Air is effectively the base model. :)

[Krevnik]

The i7 comes across as those trying to eek out the last drop of performance from the machines and power consumption is a secondary concern. As with the older dual-core i5/i7 comparisons, I bet you'll see that the extra power drain from an i7 is noticeable.

I'm going with the i5 myself, since with Astrophotography, power consumption is king. I can always process the photos when I'm back near a wall outlet, but when I'm on a 12VDC battery source for all my gear, less power means more time in the field. Plus, the 1.4Ghz C2D wasn't a deal breaker for me before, why would a faster 1.6Ghz i5 (both in clock and just raw perf) be? :)

[Xaron]

Might be this CPU:

http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/05/20/intel.has.faster.sandy.bridge.ulv.chips.due.soon/

[mac jones]

The i7 comes across as those trying to eek out the last drop of performance from the machines and power consumption is a secondary concern. As with the older dual-core i5/i7 comparisons, I bet you'll see that the extra power drain from an i7 is noticeable.

I'm going with the i5 myself, since with Astrophotography, power consumption is king. I can always process the photos when I'm back near a wall outlet, but when I'm on a 12VDC battery source for all my gear, less power means more time in the field. Plus, the 1.4Ghz C2D wasn't a deal breaker for me before, why would a faster 1.6Ghz i5 (both in clock and just raw perf) be? :)

That's wise. I hate to think of the hit on the battery with the i7.
I use an 11" now exclusivley and the 1.6 is more than enough.


I bought the faster one as I need the power and was having some problems with deciding to take two machines with me (not something I want to do).

But no way i'm traveling without the 11".

[Krevnik]

That's wise. I hate to think of the hit on the battery with the i7.
I use an 11" now exclusivley and the 1.6 is more than enough.

I bought the faster one as I need the power and was having some problems with deciding to take two machines with me (not something I want to do).

But no way i'm traveling without the 11".

I can certainly see the benefit of having the option, that's for sure. And I think most people are in agreement that it varies based on your needs. The OP should probably stick with the i5 if battery is a primary concern.

In my own case, AP and software development isn't exactly something that taxes the processor these days. Not unless you are building large projects (and I have distcc + a MacPro for that). Neither does HD video, the web, or e-mail. :)

[Roman2K~]

Regarding battery life: from the i5 (1.6 .. 2.3 GHz) to the i7 (1.8 .. 2.9 GHz), they all have a 17w TDP. I don't know enough to confirm, but doesn't that mean they all consume the same amount of power?

[mac jones]

Regarding battery life: from the i5 (1.6 .. 2.3 GHz) to the i7 (1.8 .. 2.9 GHz), they all have a 17w TDP. I don't know enough to confirm, but doesn't that mean they all consume the same amount of power?


No, the faster one will draw more (if this was not so the universe would explode...really :D )

(ok, so i'm a wise guy, I know :D )

[Jobsian]

Will I notice any difference? I'm mainly web browsing, e-mailing, some Aperture use but not frequent, and watching videos from iTunes.

My main concern is battery life and heat, so if the faster processor will likely have a big impact on either of these, I'll stick to the slower one. Any thoughts?

I'd absolutely love the answer to these questions too. We may need to wait for some proper benchmarking though.

[KPOM]

One advantage of the Core i7 is that the CPU boosts to 2.9 GHz vs 2.3GHz. The boost on the HD 3000 is much less signifcant (1.2 GHz vs. 1.15GHz for the Core i5.)

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_bridge#Mobile_processors

Compare the 2677M 1.8 GHz Core i7 to the 2467M 1.6 GHz Core i5.

[trondah]

No, the faster one will draw more (if this was not so the universe would explode...really :D )

(ok, so i'm a wise guy, I know :D )

Well, 15w is 15w right? How can Apple claim 5 hours battery life on both then?

[Starfyre]

They can claim 5 hours most likely because of a few things:

1- New sandy bridge processors are lower power
2- No more Nvidia 320m dedicated card
3- Bluetooth 4.0

[Roman2K~]

No, the faster one will draw more (if this was not so the universe would explode...really :D )

(ok, so i'm a wise guy, I know :D )

That's my other (conflicting) assumption.

But I also know that Intel have their binning process in place where the better batches of CPUs become high-clocked i7s (require a lower voltage at higher clocks) and conversely, the lemons become i5s and i3s.

That's why I'm seriously wondering about power consumption among same TDP processors like in the new line of MBAs.

[mac jones]

Well, 15w is 15w right? How can Apple claim 5 hours battery life on both then?

Well, even the thought of this defies just about every law of physics I can think of. Should I list them? :D

just saying.:D

[mac jones]

That's my other (conflicting) assumption.

But I also know that Intel have their binning process in place where the better batches of CPUs become high-clocked i7s (require a lower voltage at higher clocks) and conversely, the lemons become i5s and i3s.

That's why I'm seriously wondering about power consumption among same TDP processors like in the new line of MBAs.

short answer. no

(good wishful thinking though. I think I like your attitude ) :)

But seriously, your right. The specs are the same so the difference will be minimal, which is great. but it's most likely Intel with some new spec trick. Mind you, their track record with this sort of thing is spotty at best (for those who remember the good ol days ) :D

But any of you on the fence, get the fast one. Live a little.

What the heck, right? :)

[KPOM]

Interestingly, the website says the 1.8GHz and 256GB 11" models are available only online. http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

I wonder if any of the physical stores (e.g. 5th Avenue) will have the "Ultimate 11" in stock like they did with the old models?

With np more plastic MacBook, they ought to be able to stock more MacBook Air configurations in store. My main motivation in going "ultimate" was the storage. 128GB was getting a little tight.

[da3dl3us]

Damn, this is the question. With student discount, the i7 is only 90 bucks more. But the real issue is battery life. If it takes it down 30 mins, not a big deal. But if it goes 7hours to 5 hours, that could be a deal breaker, and might stick to the i5. :confused:

[bigjnyc]

Excuse my ignorance but how does the 1.6 i5 compare to a 2.4ghz Core2Duo is it much faster, slightly faster, the same, etc..?

[Starfyre]

That's my other (conflicting) assumption.

But I also know that Intel have their binning process in place where the better batches of CPUs become high-clocked i7s (require a lower voltage at higher clocks) and conversely, the lemons become i5s and i3s.

That's why I'm seriously wondering about power consumption among same TDP processors like in the new line of MBAs.

Yeah, the whole binning is more of a performance than power consumption thing.

[JusChexin]

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Damn, this is the question. With student discount, the i7 is only 90 bucks more. But the real issue is battery life. If it takes it down 30 mins, not a big deal. But if it goes 7hours to 5 hours, that could be a deal breaker, and might stick to the i5. :confused:

That's my concern too. With the student discount it really bridges the gap and makes the upgrade worth it for power purposes, but I'm concerned about the effect of the higher processor on battery life and heat output. Grrr, waiting for reviews and those with ownership experience stories is gonna be killer! :p

[Roman2K~]

Yeah, the whole binning is more of a performance than power consumption thing.
These go hand in hand. Theoretically, an i7 clocked down to i5 levels can be powered with lower voltages. So for equal performance levels, the i7 could consume less power.

Otherwise, why would Intel sell the i5 (binned lower) at lower frequencies and most importantly for them, cheaper than the i7?

[kamalds]

Waiting is depressing when you want to order NOW ;) :D

You sound like a fanboy.

I would wait for the benchmarks, like a sensible person who likes to spend his money wisely.

[mac jones]

You sound like a fanboy.

I would wait for the benchmarks, like a sensible person who likes to spend his money wisely.

Great, I like this.

impulse vs caution.....the tortoise and the hare.

BTW that story is total BS , and will damage your children :D

[KPOM]

Excuse my ignorance but how does the 1.6 i5 compare to a 2.4ghz Core2Duo is it much faster, slightly faster, the same, etc..?

Wait for benchmarks, but if the MacBook Pro benchmarks are any indication, for CPU-intensive tasks, the i5 would be noticeably faster. It can turbo boost to 2.3GHz on tasks that require only one CPU core. For software written to take advantage of multi-core processors, the i5 would be much faster, as it looks like a quad-core processor to the operating system (Intel calls this "hyperthreading").

[Krevnik]

Well, 15w is 15w right? How can Apple claim 5 hours battery life on both then?

The 15W is a thermal design point (TDP). You design under the assumption of that much load on the CPU. That doesn't mean that's what the CPU will actually be constantly drawing. As I state in another thread, to get the 7 hours rated on the 13", your system can only be drawing 7.14W. There's no way you can draw 15W on a single component and still make those numbers. And you'll find that the design points on a lot of components are WAY beyond what they actually draw (on average, they can still draw what they say they will, but you will notice very short battery life in this case).

These go hand in hand. Theoretically, an i7 clocked down to i5 levels can be powered with lower voltages. So for equal performance levels, the i7 could consume less power.

Otherwise, why would Intel sell the i5 (binned lower) at lower frequencies and most importantly for them, cheaper than the i7?

Yields, mainly. Yes, there are differences between the i5 and i7, but it isn't like you think. The general power vs hertz graph is the same for both. But the i7 has additional features that are friendly to virtualization, for example.

The main idea of binning is that my chips won't all wind up exactly the same. There will be variances in manufacturing. Some % will wind up exactly as I designed them, some % not so much. So by finding out what clock speeds they can support, I can sell them rated for certain speeds and provide some guarantee that they will meet what they are rated for. Chips that perform well at the higher frequencies are smaller portions of their yield compared to those that don't.

That combined with the additional i7 features create the pricing steps you see between models.

[bigjnyc]

Wait for benchmarks, but if the MacBook Pro benchmarks are any indication, for CPU-intensive tasks, the i5 would be noticeably faster. It can turbo boost to 2.3GHz on tasks that require only one CPU core. For software written to take advantage of multi-core processors, the i5 would be much faster, as it looks like a quad-core processor to the operating system (Intel calls this "hyperthreading").

Cool thanks for the info. I'm trying to decide whether its worth it to upgrade the processor for my girlfriend who is currently using a 13" 2.4ghz Macbook core2duo.... she definitely doesnt do anything intensive, she's a very light user so I think she will be fine..... She has tons of photos, music and videos so definitely have to spring for the 256gb SSD

[fa.ce]

I've just called to Apple Store online and receive this answer:
"I think :confused: there's no difference between i5 and i7 in terms of power consumptions"
Anyone with certainly answers ?

[Krevnik]

I've just called to Apple Store online and receive this answer:
"I think :confused: there's no difference between i5 and i7 in terms of power consumptions"
Anyone with certainly answers ?

The higher clock will mean you will likely see some noticeable difference between the i5 and i7 as you use it. Will it be huge? Nah, not really, on the order of 30 minutes or so, depending on usage. But certain forms of light usage will get similar battery life as both procs will clock themselves at the same speed to perform it, and go to sleep in the same way.

But those 30 minutes for some folks is huge. :)

[fa.ce]

The higher clock will mean you will likely see some noticeable difference between the i5 and i7 as you use it.
Assuming you simply surf the web, i7 will consume more than i5 ?
In other words the i7 higher clock runs more than i5 only on certain app or also on everyday light app ?

[dmunz]

Any guesses on fans and noise differences between the two?

TIA
DLM

[axu539]

I will be getting a 128 GB 1.6 GHz 11". The 1.8 is tempting, but the battery life will probably take a minor hit, and more importantly, I need my machine before Friday. As far as I know, the 0.2 GHz and 1 mb cache difference aren't going to make much of an impact for what most people will be doing on an 11" machine.

[kegler]

why no one talk about the recovery partition in the new mba?
it doesnt ship with the usb key anymore
isnt the recovery partition gonna eat up quite a fair abit from the limited space in SSD?

[TheBMill]

Hi all!

I had an 11 inch but sold it months ago in hopes of getting one of these guys. I definitely want to continue the 11 inch thing, because the form factor, to me, is really nice and I didn't mind the reduced screen size.

Anyways- I think ultimately I'll be selling my macbook pro and getting a desktop mac pro and using this new 11inch MBA as my laptop of choice. I primarily use it for writing in cafes and web surfing, etc. BUT, I also would love to have it be able to handle Final Cut 7 and Photoshop for when I need it. I can't see editing stuff in Final Cut all the time on this thing, but I would love for it to be able to render videos, etc. And my last one, was sloooow in trying to render video files.

I almost want to say the heck with it and just get an i7 with 256mb, but that's pretty pricey. 128mb was fine last time, but I think 256mb, if I'm to treat this as my main laptop, would be more suffice. $300 for the upgrade is silly, but i feel like my hands are tied there, I don't think these are upgradeable on their own, yeah?

So, I suppose it comes down to this battery drain. If it's significant enough to alter the amount of time I can have it for writing in cafes vs. how much of a speed bump it is in final cut or rendering out quicktime files, etc.

[axu539]

@ kegler:
why no one talk about the recovery partition in the new mba?
it doesnt ship with the usb key anymore
isnt the recovery partition gonna eat up quite a fair abit from the limited space in SSD?

I'm pretty sure the recovery partition doesn't actually include Lion itself. To reinstall Lion, it'll download from Apple servers.

@ TheBMill:
If you'd been using an 11" before, even the lowest end 11" would be an improvement for FC and Photoshop. Honestly, if you're planning on treating this as your main laptop, I think the low-end 13" would be your best solution.

Btw, I think you mean 128 GB and 256 GB.

[Roman2K~]

@Krevnik
Thanks for the explanations :). All this makes a lot of sense.

[TheBMill]

@ kegler:
@ TheBMill:
If you'd been using an 11" before, even the lowest end 11" would be an improvement for FC and Photoshop. Honestly, if you're planning on treating this as your main laptop, I think the low-end 13" would be your best solution.
.

I tried the 13 inch again in Best Buy the other day, just to make sure that I didn't want to upgrade to the 13 inch this time, instead of 11. And hands down the 11inch shines for me. As someone who has to fit his laptop onto tiny tables in a cafe while drinking tea, etc. The 11 inch is perfect. I didn't miss the 2 inches of screen size. And it was light enough to pack with my other things and not even notice it.

And this is coming from a guy intent on using Scrivener on this thing, which is a text heavy, multiple window deal, but I much rather have that 11 inch size. Awesome if you love the 13 inch, more power to ya! I wish I did, because there are some options (like the SD slot) that I could use, but alas.

[axu539]

I tried the 13 inch again in Best Buy the other day, just to make sure that I didn't want to upgrade to the 13 inch this time, instead of 11. And hands down the 11inch shines for me. As someone who has to fit his laptop onto tiny tables in a cafe while drinking tea, etc. The 11 inch is perfect. I didn't miss the 2 inches of screen size. And it was light enough to pack with my other things and not even notice it.

And this is coming from a guy intent on using Scrivener on this thing, which is a text heavy, multiple window deal, but I much rather have that 11 inch size. Awesome if you love the 13 inch, more power to ya! I wish I did, because there are some options (like the SD slot) that I could use, but alas.

Ah, I actually prefer the 11" myself, as well, since I already have a 17" MBP as my "home base." If the 11" works for you, go for it. I will personally be picking up my 11" 128 GB 1.6 GHz machine later today (when stores open), and I do some decently heavy stuff for such a small machine (Adobe CS5, some Matlab work, etc). Those tasks were fine, but a little bit slow on my last 1.4 GHz C2D MBA, so this should be a nice improvement.

[da3dl3us]

Hi all!

I had an 11 inch but sold it months ago in hopes of getting one of these guys. I definitely want to continue the 11 inch thing, because the form factor, to me, is really nice and I didn't mind the reduced screen size.

Anyways- I think ultimately I'll be selling my macbook pro and getting a desktop mac pro and using this new 11inch MBA as my laptop of choice. I primarily use it for writing in cafes and web surfing, etc. BUT, I also would love to have it be able to handle Final Cut 7 and Photoshop for when I need it. I can't see editing stuff in Final Cut all the time on this thing, but I would love for it to be able to render videos, etc. And my last one, was sloooow in trying to render video files.

I almost want to say the heck with it and just get an i7 with 256mb, but that's pretty pricey. 128mb was fine last time, but I think 256mb, if I'm to treat this as my main laptop, would be more suffice. $300 for the upgrade is silly, but i feel like my hands are tied there, I don't think these are upgradeable on their own, yeah?

So, I suppose it comes down to this battery drain. If it's significant enough to alter the amount of time I can have it for writing in cafes vs. how much of a speed bump it is in final cut or rendering out quicktime files, etc.

I was initially gonna jump to buy the 256GB, but also starting to think if the extra $300 is worth it.

If I'm gonna bootcamp (just for some games), would the 128GB do the job?

[shiny-blanket]

i7 has on die memory controller, doesn't look like i5 does. That'll reduce memory access latency.

[TheBMill]

I was initially gonna jump to buy the 256GB, but also starting to think if the extra $300 is worth it.

If I'm gonna bootcamp (just for some games), would the 128GB do the job?

I can't speak to bootcamp, I remember the MBA with 128gb did okay with me, I actually had like 50gb free, BUT, if I'm to make this my laptop of choice and ditch the macbook pro (and use a desktop for editing), then I feel like having another 128gb would be really useful. Especially since i use dropbox to sync both computers and I wouldn't want to run out of space on the MBA

[da3dl3us]

I can't speak to bootcamp, I remember the MBA with 128gb did okay with me, I actually had like 50gb free, BUT, if I'm to make this my laptop of choice and ditch the macbook pro (and use a desktop for editing), then I feel like having another 128gb would be really useful. Especially since i use dropbox to sync both computers and I wouldn't want to run out of space on the MBA

So with your 128gb, what was the 70Gb being used towards? I'm just trying to get an idea of how much space I would use in reality, instead of just buying the 256gb, waste money and not using it to it's full potential.

[TheBMill]

So with your 128gb, what was the 70Gb being used towards? I'm just trying to get an idea of how much space I would use in reality, instead of just buying the 256gb, waste money and not using it to it's full potential.

I'm a filmmaker and sometimes musician, so I had garageband files, some video files, and various other bits of media. At the time, I had a free dropbox account and got it up to something like 6.6gb. But, now that I have a pro account, I could see having at least 50gb worth of media backed up amongst both computers...I think I may be talking myself into a 256gb here.

For me, I never not need more space. As an editor I have something like 5 external hard drives!

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking I won't upgrade to i7. If I were to max everything out, with tax and all, would be really silly for an 11 inch. I think the real question is whether or not to go for that 256gb upgrade or not. If it was only a little cheaper!

[TheBMill]

da3dl3us, I found this to be the best deciding factor for me. I just checked out the program What Size? Just to see how much space I was using on my current macbook pro and for what.

Application Support is at 47gb
Apple loops is 32gb
Applications 18gb
Plus easily 11gb of stuff for mail, system files, etc.

So, even if I just wanted to keep my applications uniform across my pending new desktop and this macbook air, I'd have to get the 256, because otherwise I'd have 0 space for files.

[MacRumorUser]

You sound like a fanboy.

I would wait for the benchmarks, like a sensible person who likes to spend his money wisely.

Yeah or I could actually have a sense of humor unlike some:rolleyes:

[blabu]

Yes, I would wait for other reviews, because new chipset (like MBP´11)...

Reviews ... like temperature F/° in normal / boost mode of the i7 in 11 inch MBA, a SSD review if link/speed is SATA 3 (SSD too) and "new" virtualization features of the i7...

[da3dl3us]

da3dl3us, I found this to be the best deciding factor for me. I just checked out the program What Size? Just to see how much space I was using on my current macbook pro and for what.

Application Support is at 47gb
Apple loops is 32gb
Applications 18gb
Plus easily 11gb of stuff for mail, system files, etc.

So, even if I just wanted to keep my applications uniform across my pending new desktop and this macbook air, I'd have to get the 256, because otherwise I'd have 0 space for files.

That does seem like a lot of stuff being used. I'm not really familiar with OSX (first time user here!) so what is the difference between applications support, Apple Loops and Applications?

[MacRumorUser]

That does seem like a lot of stuff being used. I'm not really familiar with OSX (first time user here!) so what is the difference between applications support, Apple Loops and Applications?

Trying to keep exlanation as simple as possible.

Apple Loops = are sound loops installed with pro apps like Logic Pro or the previous version of Final Cut Studio (Soundtrack Pro).

If you don't use these programs you probably will be never see Apple Loops storage that high.

Application Support is a folder which contains files that support some of your Applications. To get this high again one would assume the user is utilizing an Apple application with a lot in in built templates that consume a lot of space. Final Cut Studio again for example.

Applications folder is the actual applications you use.

[mscofield]

Really looking forward to the benchmarks.
11"/4GB/128GB SSD for sure. Processing to be decided.