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Mike in Kansas

macrumors 6502a
Sep 2, 2008
962
74
Metro Kansas City
Out of curiosity, I installed the Intel Power Gadget on my i7/8GB/512GB and since it takes samples every 50ms by default, I'd like to know if it'll impact the performance... I know I can increase the sampling frame and avoid logging data to file, but would it still impact?

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.

Ahh, good old Heisenberg, eh? ;-)

My experience on a 2012 i7 MBA suggests that at the longest sampling increment (500 ms) it consumes 0.8% - 1.2%. At the shortest sampling increment (20 ms) it seems to consume 1.6% - 2.0% of the CPU power. So its impact seems to be measurable but not overly significant compared to other programs.

During idle, the processor speed is the same regardless of the sampling increment set in Power Gadget.
 

sofianito

macrumors 65816
Jan 14, 2011
1,207
2
Spain
Ahh, good old Heisenberg, eh? ;-)

My experience on a 2012 i7 MBA suggests that at the longest sampling increment (500 ms) it consumes 0.8% - 1.2%. At the shortest sampling increment (20 ms) it seems to consume 1.6% - 2.0% of the CPU power. So its impact seems to be measurable but not overly significant compared to other programs.

During idle, the processor speed is the same regardless of the sampling increment set in Power Gadget.

Thanks for the information :), but how did you get those numbers?

To measure the impact, I run 3 GeekBench tests with IPG running and then without IPG running, calculate the mean of each test suite, and then calculate the difference:

Code:
GeekBench 32-bit: IPG vs Non IPG
1/3 : 7443 vs 7483
2/3 : 7376 vs 7429
3/3 : 7390 vs 7383
Mean: 7403 vs 7431.66
Efficiency percentage: ((7431.66 - 7403) * 100)/ 7403 = 0.387%
 
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Rick-ITA

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2013
187
0
Hello!

I'm still debating wheter I prefer a rMBP or an MBA.

In case I select the MBA, I read in this topic that "for usual tasks" the upgrade from i5 to i7 is minimal and does worth the money.

Since it's not clear to me what do you refer with usual tasks, here's what I need the MBA for:

- Adobe Lightroom 5, raw processing (occasional, for hobby, let say two times a month, 100-150 photos each time).
- Use of windows software with parallels or some kind of virtual machine (daily use - scientific workplace)
- database analysis with stata
- Internet, watch movies, office, photos....

Consider that 150€ is not an indifferent sum of money for me, but I'm willing to spend that money if I will notice a significative upgrade.

Suggestion?
 

magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,956
2,253
Hello!

I'm still debating wheter I prefer a rMBP or an MBA.

In case I select the MBA, I read in this topic that "for usual tasks" the upgrade from i5 to i7 is minimal and does worth the money.

Since it's not clear to me what do you refer with usual tasks, here's what I need the MBA for:

- Adobe Lightroom 5, raw processing (occasional, for hobby, let say two times a month, 100-150 photos each time).
- Use of windows software with parallels or some kind of virtual machine (daily use - scientific workplace)
- database analysis with stata
- Internet, watch movies, office, photos....

Consider that 150€ is not an indifferent sum of money for me, but I'm willing to spend that money if I will notice a significative upgrade.

Suggestion?

Here, I've posted this previously
56102.png


The i5 was noticeably slower processing the RAW files out of my D800. The i7 feels about the same as my wife i5 base rMBP and this graph confirms it.
 

Rick-ITA

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2013
187
0
Thanks, one other question.

With the standard 128gb SSD, OS installed + office and parallels (or vmare) and what's needed to have a windows virtual machine, how much space I've left for other programs and my data? Thanks
 

magnumpi

macrumors member
Sep 24, 2012
41
0
I can't check it right now but I believe the MBA comes with about 110GB free out the box and a basic VMware Windows 8 VM is about 20 GB.
 

sergiobaschi

macrumors regular
Nov 30, 2012
199
6
Gothenburg, Sweden
I'm planning to upgrade my 2011 MBA (see signature).

The 8 GB is a no-brainer, and I've decided to max the SSD. But the cpu...

At first, I was thinking of getting the i5. Now I'm leaning towards the i7.

Thoughts on the following statements would be deeply appreciated.
1: The i5 gives better battery life
2: The i7 makes the computer warmer than the i5 does
3: The i5 will feel slower than my current 2011 i7
 

B...

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2013
1,949
2
I'm planning to upgrade my 2011 MBA (see signature).

The 8 GB is a no-brainer, and I've decided to max the SSD. But the cpu...

At first, I was thinking of getting the i5. Now I'm leaning towards the i7.

Thoughts on the following statements would be deeply appreciated.
1: The i5 gives better battery life
2: The i7 makes the computer warmer than the i5 does
3: The i5 will feel slower than my current 2011 i7

1. Usually
2. Usually
3. Depends on what you use it for.
 

laserbeam273

macrumors 6502
Sep 7, 2010
424
0
Australia
I'm planning to upgrade my 2011 MBA (see signature).

The 8 GB is a no-brainer, and I've decided to max the SSD. But the cpu...

At first, I was thinking of getting the i5. Now I'm leaning towards the i7.

I "no brained" a 4 GB MBA last year and it was fine for all average usage - browsing and iTunes, Starcraft II, some web development.

People seem to forget the benefits of SSDs... if you page out onto a spinning harddrive, it's death, but if you page out onto an SSD, particularly a 800 MB/S PCI-E SSD!!!!, it's nowhere near as much of an issue.

Though it does depend on how long you want this MBA to last. If well over 2 years, then you need to jump on i7 and 8 GB RAM. If not, and if you're not using it for heavy duty stuff, then i5 and 4 GB would be fine.


Also, an i5 2013 will beat an i7 2011 for pretty much everything. Seriously, the new SSDs are psycho and will make a big difference. Not to mention the improved processor architecture.
 

DisplacedMic

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2009
1,411
1
I'm planning to upgrade my 2011 MBA (see signature).

The 8 GB is a no-brainer, and I've decided to max the SSD. But the cpu...

At first, I was thinking of getting the i5. Now I'm leaning towards the i7.

Thoughts on the following statements would be deeply appreciated.
1: The i5 gives better battery life
2: The i7 makes the computer warmer than the i5 does
3: The i5 will feel slower than my current 2011 i7

higher clock rate will generally require more power which will reduce battery life relative to a lower clock rate.
the same goes for heat. - higher processing tasks will generate more heat.

whether those things are noticeable in so-called "real world applications" isn't clear. i have an i7 and it only rarely gets above ambient.

i don't know about your third question...maybe? it really depends what you do with it.
 

Scott6666

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2008
1,486
915
This all has been confusing enough that I'm seriously thinking of getting an i5 and an identical i7 and comparing them side-by-side.

[You can't find an i7 on display at Apple retail to try for yourself, they're all i5's, despite the fact they claim to have the ultimate in stock.]
 

Tfb

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2012
86
0
i7 cheaper than i5

I was all set on the i5 and now the i7 is in the Refurb Store for cheaper than the i5 configuration I wanted: 8/256

Battery life is more important to me than performance. Is it crazy to pay extra for the i5?

I tend to keep a lot of programs open at once, but the programs I use seem pretty basic (word + excel + browser with tons of tabs + Civilization + Acrobat Pro). Will I get any benefit at all from the i7?
 

Booji

macrumors 6502a
Nov 17, 2011
790
516
Tokyo
I was all set on the i5 and now the i7 is in the Refurb Store for cheaper than the i5 configuration I wanted: 8/256

Battery life is more important to me than performance. Is it crazy to pay extra for the i5?

I tend to keep a lot of programs open at once, but the programs I use seem pretty basic (word + excel + browser with tons of tabs + Civilization + Acrobat Pro). Will I get any benefit at all from the i7?

If battery life is what is important, stick with the i5.

You don't know the difference in speed based on your use.
 

Crazy Badger

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2008
1,297
698
Scotland
I was all set on buying the i5/8/512 but when I got to the store they didn't stock that configuration, so ended up with the i7/8/512!

Don't know about 2013 i5 v i7 but ultimate MBA 2010 v 2013 is incredible :D
 

Flowiee

macrumors member
May 16, 2013
52
0
i5 or i7 or even rMBP

Hi all,

Can't decide if i7 is needed for me, or if I even need to bump for rMBP.
Heres my story;

Student (keynote/numbers/pages), Autodesk Inventor (3d drawing), casual gaming (guildwars 2 / football manager), few times a year Imovie (maybe more in the future), music editing software.

Want to keep the laptop for like 5 years.

Possible options;
Air: 1.3/8/256 €1343
Air: 1.7/8/256 €1485
rMBP: 2.4/8/256 €1437
rMBP: 2.6/8/256 €1532

So, which is the best option for me? I like battery life, and I dont really need the Retina display, but it's only €100 more comparing to the 1.3 Air and even cheaper then the 1.7 Air.

Can anyone give me some good advice? also about the problems everyone has now with the rMBP.

Thanks in advance!
 
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