why so many people opting for i7

[skcrane]

is the i5 quad that bad or does everyone just need hyperthreading

[Xnew2macX]

I picked the i7 over the i5 because of the speed bump and the HT. its not going to make a great difference in performance, but for an extra $180 (with student discount) i figured it was a "wise investment." An i7 shoulder have a better resale value in 2 years.

[ramallite]

is the i5 quad that bad or does everyone just need hyperthreading

I'm seriously considering an iMac (my current machines are in my sig) - and if I get one it would only be the i7. My reason is that I like to get as long a life as possible out of my Macs. I don't do any heavy duty anything (gaming, photo editing, movies, nothing!) but I would like my Mac to still be able to perform well after 3-4 years. My current G5 is still great, except I can't upgrade the OS on it anymore nor can I install a lot of the new apps that are forthcoming. So that's why I do it - power and longevity.

[zedsdead]

is the i5 quad that bad or does everyone just need hyperthreading

In most respects, it is not a noticeable difference for most tasks, especially because Apple's software is so outdated when it comes to supporting more than 2-cores/threads, but that should change over the next year or so (hopefully).

[johnnymg]

For a desktop machine the i7 upgrade is very compelling. The hyper threading and speed boost will help future proof the machine IF you ever plan to edit video with the machine. Beyond that genre it's probably a wash. JMO ~~~~~

cheers to the imac buyers
JohnG

[dagomike]

7 is higher than 5.

[LAPTOPODO]

7 is higher than 5.

Bravo amigo :D

I think it's the main reason why many people choost it :) no matter what they tell us about performance... in our mind .. 7 it's more than 5 :)

[TheBritishBloke]

I think it's mainly because of hyper threading. Means future proofing and hugger resale value.

All applications will begin to use hyper threading some day.

[dwarnecke11]

Is it correct to say that to see the benefits of HT, one would have to run more than four threads? Will processes use up the physical cores before HT is utilized? Geekbench numbers are one thing, but I'm starting to have second thoughts about getting an i7 over an i5...

[Dwhite78]

7 is higher than 5.

I know thats why I bought my two imac i7's
:p

[aurichie]

In most respects, it is not a noticeable difference for most tasks, especially because Apple's software is so outdated when it comes to supporting more than 2-cores/threads, but that should change over the next year or so (hopefully).

People have been saying that since the original i7 iMacs were released last year. There's still no compelling reason to pay the extra with the latest refresh.

[Gregintosh]

I went i5 and saved some money. I suppose it's a wise investment if you plan to keep your machine until it dies though or if you really do a lot of video editing, especially in HD. For me, I do some video editing but that is something I only do once in a long while.

I don't know about resale value improving though. It is always harder to move things that cost more. (it is a lot easier to find a qualified buyer and complete a transaction/sale of a 1000 computer than a 2000 one)

I don't think the i7 would necessarily fetch a higher price, especially 2 or 3 years from now when the speed bump will be dwarfed by the newest stuff out there. I bet the amounts of money the i5s go for compared to the i7s will be almost the same if not exactly the same.