Apple replacing my old i7 2.8ghz with new i5 2.8ghz is this a downgrade?

Sounds like a slight downgrade to me. I would ask for the i7 if it were me.

The only main thing you'd loose with the i5 is Hyper Threading. If I am not mistaken Logic Pro is still single threaded and hasn't been updated to take advantage of multi-core CPUs.

That said, all i5s trump i7s when it come to single threaded tasks. However, overall, it's an upgrade since the GPU takes one massive jump.

An i5 would trump all i7s in single threaded tasks??? I dont believe that nor does it make any sense.

Thats a huge downgrade. The i7 is a 4-core cpu, the i5 is a 2-core.

The 2.8 i5 in the current 27in iMac is quad-core I think.

300D said:

Thats a huge downgrade. The i7 is a 4-core cpu, the i5 is a 2-core.

Click to expand...

The i5 2.8GHz CPU is quad-core, the 3.6GHz i5 CPU is dual core.

http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html

What did you pay originally? There is a $200.00 difference in the refurb store between the i5Q and the i7Q. Maybe they're price matching?

I would ask to talk with the supervisor and ask, ask, ask until you are satisfied. Time and trouble should be a factor as well. That's worth a couple hundred dollars.

Not on the current generation.

Even the GPU is a slight downgrade. Your iMac's Ati Radeon Mobility 4850 is slightly faster then the Ati Radeon Mobility 5850 (what's in the proposed i5 iMac).

Sounds strange, but believe me it is.
Compare for yourself:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5850.23069.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4850.13975.0.html

The proposed i5 IS a quadcore (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=48496&processor=i5-760&spec-codes=SLBRP) vs your i7 (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=41316&processor=i7-860&spec- codes=SLBJJ). Look at this review: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-760_4.html#sect0 and then you see your i7 is faster then the proposed i5.

So: slower CPU and slower GPU. I would complain!

shamanoid said:

Hi everyone.
My refurbished 2.8ghz i7 (ATI Radeon HD 4850) completely died after 3 months and apple can't fix it, so apple offered to replace it with the newer 2.8ghz i5 (ATI Radeon HD 5750)- not the i7!!

I am running Logic Pro in some high demanding ways, running many multitrack recordings and lots of plug-ins, processors, and need to keep the latency down by running at as low buffer size (32 or 64) in music recording studio situations. Latency is my biggest concern in the studio.

I am worried that the i7 to i5 is a downgrade. And if so is it enough to demand they replace it with another i7? The problem is the new i7 does not come as a 2.8ghz (only a 2.93 ghz) and is much more expensive and apple considers the new i5 equivalent to the old i7.
Should I be concerned and demand a i7?

Many thanks for your opinions!

Shamanoid

Click to expand...

Yes it is less performance. 4 cores (i5) vs 4 cores + 4 virtual cores (i7). Logic is fully capable of supporting BOTH multi-core AND Hyperthreading (virtual cores). It's one of the few applications Apple sells that is super efficient (as of latest release).

Definitely complain. You should be getting the equivalently priced system. Meaning if you spent $2199 on a 2.8 i7, the equivalent $2199 system (2.93 i7) is what they should give you. If you explain it in those terms, it will be hard for them to deny you.

Good luck!

Edit: I just re-read your post. The refurbished factor might be why they are doing this. I'd still push for the equivalent system.

Chris5488 said:

Even the GPU is a slight downgrade. Your iMac's Ati Radeon Mobility 4850 is slightly faster then the Ati Radeon Mobility 5850 (what's in the proposed i5 iMac).

Click to expand...

Incorrect. The iMacs do not use mobility GPUs and the 5850 is than 85% more powerful.

Radeon HD 4850 1334
Radeon HD 5850 2479
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

Chris5488 said:

Even the GPU is a slight downgrade. Your iMac's Ati Radeon Mobility 4850 is slightly faster then the Ati Radeon Mobility 5850 (what's in the proposed i5 iMac).

Click to expand...

Well, this is not quite correct. I don't really understand how that site performs their benchmarks (no information about the resolution and the card used). The point it, the mobility 5850 comes in two models: with or without the GDDR5 VRAM. The latter one is slower, but the iMac uses faster RAM. I guess that the benchmarks use mixed models, which drags the total score down. In fact, the 5850M in the iMac is not slower, but at least on par with the 4850M.

300D said:

Incorrect. The iMacs do not use mobility GPUs and the 5850 is than 85% more powerful.

Click to expand...

Please stop spreading false information! The iMacs DO USE mobility GPUs, and the 5750 in the iMac 27" is the mobility 5850. The iMac has neither the PSU capacity nor space to fit a full desktop card.

Sure the iMacs use mobile gpus, there simply is no other way. If you look at the desktop 5770 & 5870 in current Mac Pros, these cards are almost thicker than an entire iMac.

Funny how Apples marketing can defeat simple logic for some.

Due to the reduced memory bandwidth of the iMac's 5750 GPU the consensus, if my memory serves me correctly, was that you only actually got around a 10% boost in performance compared to the 4850 GPU - this despite the 5750 having 1GB of GDDR5 RAM.

If apple offers a replacement they are allowed to offer a downgrade, but you should refuse it as the offer is not binding. In every case that apple has sent me replacement machines . No part was downgraded so even if the offer has 3 or 4 better parts then yours the cpu is slower. Give me a few minutes to find a link that shows a slower score for that cpu.


http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/375371 6818 the offer they make



http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/375268 8541 your old score



http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/375349 9444 a new i7 2.93 score this should be the machine you get

I don't see how the i5 760 has higher single threaded performance than the i7 860 either, that seems like a bold assumption. They both have 4 cores, same base clock speed and relative same turboboost frequency (the i7 860 actually is a bit higher clocked in single threaded.)

Chris5488 said:

Even the GPU is a slight downgrade. Your iMac's Ati Radeon Mobility 4850 is slightly faster then the Ati Radeon Mobility 5850 (what's in the proposed i5 iMac).

Sounds strange, but believe me it is.
Compare for yourself:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-5850.23069.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4850.13975.0.html

Click to expand...

Well that's actually not quite true, even though you're doing right by giving notebookcheck benchmarks, you'er slightly being mislead by the actual benchmarks they give of the two gpus. Most of the benchmarks they use on the 5850m are of the gddr3 variant, and gddr3 makes a considerable difference from gddr5 because gddr5 offers twice the throughput and thus twice the memory bandwidth. I did a writeup when the mid 2010 iMacs were first introduced:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/978676/

300D said:

Incorrect. The iMacs do not use mobility GPUs and the 5850 is than 85% more powerful.

Radeon HD 4850 1334
Radeon HD 5850 2479
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

Click to expand...

Well all I can say is that you've finally have warranted a momentary suspension from posting, because most of your posts have been flat out wrong and the tone you take in them is borderline aggressive.

To op: I'd want my i7 model back personally! But if you do find yourself gaming from time to time, then the model with 5850m might be of better use to you.