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Tech198

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,151
Whats the difference between the "four vitual cores" of the Macbook air and the quad core of the macbook pro ?

I'm seriously thinking about going for the MBA next yeat ealy next year, but wondering if (a. I should wait as I know Apple will be releasing a new mac line up, or B) go with the Air.

I currently have a Macbook Pro, which is i7 (Early 2011( 256MB VRAM, but thinking of moving towards the AIr, as circimstances have changed in terms of strorage (no longer use optical media) and if (and only if) I do, I can just for the usb based optical drive.

I know the AIr is limited to 4 Gig, but thats ok. I'm just wondering how this "duel core/aka virtual cores, compares to the PC Core Duo Any reviews side by side ?

AFter all, when I think of duel core. doesn't really matter if its i5, or i3, i automatically think of the core duo that PC's used to have, then compare against that. I know i'm probably dead wrong here

Any suggestions??

After all.... I can buy the Macbook Air, and return it within 14 days if I don't like it.. thats another thought.
 

Aaron from KY

macrumors member
Aug 4, 2010
95
4
Northern Kentucky
Actually it's i5 (4 virtual cores) vs. i7 (8 virtual cores)

If you're an extreme multi-tasker you may find better performance with the i7 If you don't need the optical drive why not remove it for an Optibay? Then you could run an SSD and a Hard drive, or two 2 HDs to max out your storage.

Macworld runs the same tests on all their hardware, Speedmark 7. Then you could compare where each one stands.
Good luck!
 

caligomez

macrumors regular
Feb 8, 2011
246
88
San Juan, PR
Sounds like you have no urgent need for the MBA. I would just wait six months and go for the Next MBA model.

And your MBP's i7 (if it's a quad core) is almost twice as fast as the MBA i5, but not really a noticeable difference unless you are converting/editing HD video or doing other processor intensive tasks..
 
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