Is there a noticeable difference between the two? I'm considering selling my MBP 13... It's kinda slow nowadays and although I could upgrade the HDD to an SSD... I'd rather have the Air.. much more portable. I don't need the 256GB, but it's the only way I can get the i7. I'd save a good $400 on the i5 which I could put towards a Mini. Opinions?
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2012 MBA 13" i5 vs i7 w/ 8GB speed difference?
- Thread starter omfgskyler
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For things like editing photos, surfing the net and checking email, then no. There is no big difference in terms of speed for those things. If you were rendering videos in FCPX then maybe a little bit. If it were a comparison between a dual core and a quad core processor for video work I would say a HECK ya. However the Air only comes with a dual core processor right now.
as above you'll be hard pressed to notice a difference.
however.
the i5 and i7 may support different hardware features (forget off the top of my head in mobile CPUs). if you plan to boot camp, run virtualization, etc you may want to check ark.intel.com for the cpu specs you are considering to check that they have the features you need.
if that didn't make sense to you, you'll be fine with the i5
however.
the i5 and i7 may support different hardware features (forget off the top of my head in mobile CPUs). if you plan to boot camp, run virtualization, etc you may want to check ark.intel.com for the cpu specs you are considering to check that they have the features you need.
if that didn't make sense to you, you'll be fine with the i5
I have both - a 2012 11" with an i7 and 8GB of RAM, and a new low-end 13" that I bought courtesy of the two-day Amazon and Best Buy sale. I've been surprised to notice no real difference between the two in terms of speed.
I concur with the other thoughts in this thread: The only real jump you'd feel would be if Quad-Core processors took the place of the Dual-Cores.
I concur with the other thoughts in this thread: The only real jump you'd feel would be if Quad-Core processors took the place of the Dual-Cores.
No ... the MBA chips are dual-core. But we can hope! I have a 2.0 gHz quad-core MBP and a 2.0 i7 MBA; there's quite a difference in processor speed under load.
I heard the i7 also consumes battery life quicker. I'm not sure if I would even sacrifice battery life for a little bit extra speed.
see the word "may".
on the desktop it is/was different, hence my suggestion to check ark.intel.com
For the moment it works this way, quad core i5s have hyperthreading disabled. They're only available in desktop variants. The equivalent Xeon E3s follow the same pattern. The i5 and i7 are around a 12-15% difference in Geekbench. That isn't much when you figure the quad core macbook pros are more like 80% higher. I doubt one would be retired later than the other. 4GB of ram vs 8 is a much bigger difference than a few points in geekbench.
I agree completely. I'm never annoyed by my i5, but my 4GB RAM is something of a performance bottleneck. With 8GB you should be fine with either processor option.