Streaming a HD Netflix (The Lorax) movie test.
====================
Right now I have my MBA 11" i7/8/256 vs my wife's 11" i5/4/128.
I made sure every program was shut down, checked activity monitors to make sure they were exactly the same before I started. Turned off Time Machine.
Both charged to 100% Let them even charge for 30 min after they reached 100% to make sure they were maximum charged.
Both set to 8 brightness ticks and 1 keyboard brightness tick.
I am streaming both in full screen using Safari simultaneously side by side.
Results as I have them below:
===================================
22 min into movie:
i5 - 92%
i7 - 97%
i7 is actually cooler on the bottom, neither are really warm, but the i7 heat is actually almost undetectable. Was not expecting these results so far.
(Double checked activity monitor, nothing different running on the i5, no fans on either machine)
**
45 min into movie:
i5 - 70%
i7 - 84%
Here is something interesting I observed, higher cpu usage on the i5 for Safari and silverlight (netflix player plugin.)
i5 is definitely "warm"
i7 is very slightly "warm"
If I were to give a value 1-10 on heat/warmth.
i5 - 4.5
i7 - 3
**
70 min into movie:
i5 - 54%
i7 - 76%
Heat is the same as earlier with the i5 actually running a little warmer.
No fans running on either machine at any point thus far either.
**
End of movie 1hour 25 min:
i5 - 42% (1:04 Remaining)
i7 - 70% ( 3:24 Remaining)
---------------------------------------------------------
Ending thoughts: Was totally blown away, I was expecting the i7 do do slightly worse than the i5 for both heat and battery.
Possible Conclusion: I did check activity monitor on both machines around the 45 minute mark and watched it for a min or two.
I noticed the i5 cpu load mainly between 45-70 it bounced around a lot in that range.
The i7 cpu load stayed in a much tighter range of 39-45. Did not bounce around like the i5 did.
The cpu load was nearly completely on both machines Safari & Silverlight (Plug-in), the i5 wasn't using CPU cycles on anything else.
So my thoughts are in this test the i7 just handled the job more efficiently, the i5 was throttling up and down a lot and that caused heat and greater battery loss, the i7 was able to maintain a consistant threshold and didn't suffer from having to "turbo boost" as much because the base speed was sufficient.
Thoughts??
(More tests coming, Next, League of Legends (Game) heat, battery & FPS test, side by side... tomorrow night. )
====================
Right now I have my MBA 11" i7/8/256 vs my wife's 11" i5/4/128.
I made sure every program was shut down, checked activity monitors to make sure they were exactly the same before I started. Turned off Time Machine.
Both charged to 100% Let them even charge for 30 min after they reached 100% to make sure they were maximum charged.
Both set to 8 brightness ticks and 1 keyboard brightness tick.
I am streaming both in full screen using Safari simultaneously side by side.
Results as I have them below:
===================================
22 min into movie:
i5 - 92%
i7 - 97%
i7 is actually cooler on the bottom, neither are really warm, but the i7 heat is actually almost undetectable. Was not expecting these results so far.
(Double checked activity monitor, nothing different running on the i5, no fans on either machine)
**
45 min into movie:
i5 - 70%
i7 - 84%
Here is something interesting I observed, higher cpu usage on the i5 for Safari and silverlight (netflix player plugin.)
i5 is definitely "warm"
i7 is very slightly "warm"
If I were to give a value 1-10 on heat/warmth.
i5 - 4.5
i7 - 3
**
70 min into movie:
i5 - 54%
i7 - 76%
Heat is the same as earlier with the i5 actually running a little warmer.
No fans running on either machine at any point thus far either.
**
End of movie 1hour 25 min:
i5 - 42% (1:04 Remaining)
i7 - 70% ( 3:24 Remaining)
---------------------------------------------------------
Ending thoughts: Was totally blown away, I was expecting the i7 do do slightly worse than the i5 for both heat and battery.
Possible Conclusion: I did check activity monitor on both machines around the 45 minute mark and watched it for a min or two.
I noticed the i5 cpu load mainly between 45-70 it bounced around a lot in that range.
The i7 cpu load stayed in a much tighter range of 39-45. Did not bounce around like the i5 did.
The cpu load was nearly completely on both machines Safari & Silverlight (Plug-in), the i5 wasn't using CPU cycles on anything else.
So my thoughts are in this test the i7 just handled the job more efficiently, the i5 was throttling up and down a lot and that caused heat and greater battery loss, the i7 was able to maintain a consistant threshold and didn't suffer from having to "turbo boost" as much because the base speed was sufficient.
Thoughts??
(More tests coming, Next, League of Legends (Game) heat, battery & FPS test, side by side... tomorrow night. )
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