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student_trap

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 14, 2005
1,879
0
'Ol Smokey, UK
Thing is, yes the i7 uses a little more battery when under load, but the i7 gets tasks done faster than the i5, so IMO it's a wash.

Test results have shown that the i5 and i7 use ~ the same battery juice when under light to no load.

Can you provide a link to these tests, I've looked at a number of reviews and not seen any that reach this specific conclusion?
 

stchman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2012
671
2
St. Louis, MO

Jobsian

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2009
853
98
Its interesting what you say about the i5. What tasks do you use your air for?
Lighter stuff than what you seem to want to use it for, 90% browsing, word processing, hd youtube, VLC, occasional video encodes.

I can't remember which site's benchmarks made me slightly regret getting the i7, maybe it was the (delayed) Anandtech ones. There's not a huge difference really. As Stchman suggests, the i7 may be a good choice for you.

I also leave it unplugged as much as possible, zeroing the battery at least daily.
 
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