MacBook Air 13. I5 or i7?

Grmnracing · Jan 16, 2013, 12:46 PM

I will be purchasing a MacBook Air. I don't have a need to get the i7 with 8gb of RAM, ( as of now). I know the i5 4gb would be fine for my use. However, my question is should I spend the extra money to get a higher spec MacBook Air or just get the base? I'm trying to decide if by upgrading the Air is worth the money in the extra amount of time I will get out of it.

Secondly, from what I researched the i5/i7 only turbo boost in some apps that are optimized for the chips. How popular is the support for the ultra low voltage i5/i7?

danistyping · Jan 16, 2013, 12:51 PM

They sell a ton of these things, so my guess is that support is widespread for ULV turbo boost. I have the i7 after returning the i5. You won't notice a day to day difference - they're both very fast. You will notice a difference when you do processor intensive things like compressing files, working with HD video, file conversion and audio recording.

I strongly suggest the 8GB RAM upgrade. This is important for future proofing the device (unless you don't plan on owning it long). More significant than the i7 upgrade. Do both if you can afford it.

Nimravus · Jan 16, 2013, 12:56 PM

i7 runs hotter and uses more power so if you don't need it, stick with the i5. The i5 in the Mid 2012 MBA from what I researched now hyper threads as does the i7 so the performance bump is minimal. Maybe worth it if you are doing heavy processing but at a battery hit. i5 is overkill for most consumers I think, who check email, sur the web, light video/photo edit, etc.

I would however get the 8gb ram for $100 more. It's not upgradable later so you will be stuck with 4gb if you don't order it with 8gb.

The SSD is upgradable so I would go with the 128gb and if you need to later, upgrade the SSD and use the one that came with the MBA as an external SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure. For the same $300 it will cost you to get the 256gb SSD from Apple, you can upgrade after but now have the extra drive.

Just my thoughts, MBA is an awesome choice for portability.

krspkbl · Jan 17, 2013, 03:39 AM

Originally, when first considering the Air, I was gonna just max it out with i7/8GB/256GB. I ended up getting i5/8GB/128GB. Coming from a 4 year old MacBook, the i5 feels like a beast!

Like others have said, the i7 only has minimal speed advantages when doing intensive processes. It runs hotter and uses more battery. If you absolutely need more processing power and don't mind the lower battery life then I'd suggest looking at a Pro model.

The i5 is great and it's perfectly fine for just browsing the net, watching YouTube (4K playback is smooth!), listening to music, watching films, word processing and light gaming (chess/minecraft/football manager) That's about all I need it for. I can't tell you how far these machines can be pushed as I haven't really tested it myself.

Again, I'm comparing this to an 4 year old MacBook but i was impressed by how cool the Air runs! It's get warm of course but still very cool especially for such a small computer! Depending on settings/usage you can get anywhere between 6.5/9hrs usage out the battery.

I'd suggest i5 Air or a Pro model depending on what you want to do. Maybe the i7 isn't really as bad as I seem to be making it out to be but this is just my thoughts. Finally, the i5 can turbo boost up to 2.8ghz and has 2 virtual cores. It is a dual core but each core runs a virtual core so in some sort of definition you potentially have a 2.8ghz quad-core CPU. This is only available if needed of course.

As for other specs. Definitely get 8GB if you can afford it! I never seem to use more than 4GB but it's there if you need it, it'll future proof the machine when you update to upcoming OS releases. Also, it'll get you more if you want to sell it for whatever reason. The SSD is can be upgraded by yourself. I have ~71GB free still and once it fills up I can just put some stuff on an external HD. Hopefully by that time SSD prices drop a good bit and there are more 3rd party drives available for the Air.

Grmnracing · Jan 17, 2013, 04:40 AM

Thank you everyone. It will be the i5 8gb Air. And it will be my first Mac!

designs216 · Jan 17, 2013, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grmnracing

Thank you everyone. It will be the i5 8gb Air. And it will be my first Mac!

Enjoy and report back. I'm thinking about getting the very same model for my wife.

krspkbl · Jan 17, 2013, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grmnracing

Thank you everyone. It will be the i5 8gb Air. And it will be my first Mac!

Awesome! It really is an amazing little machine. Nothing like your first Mac! If you have any questions feel free to ask

Hope you enjoy it when it arrives!

wolfpuppies3 · Jan 18, 2013, 02:37 PM

Do it, go for the i7. whatever is adequate today will be overtaxed tomorrow. unless, of course, you upgrade every year.

docal97 · Jan 18, 2013, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grmnracing

Thank you everyone. It will be the i5 8gb Air. And it will be my first Mac!

only thing that i particularly surprising is that Apple does not carry an 8gb model in stores. They are special order items and take about 7-10 days to receive.

Jan 16, 2013, 12:46 PM	#1
Grmnracing macrumors member Join Date: Nov 2011	MacBook Air 13. I5 or i7? I will be purchasing a MacBook Air. I don't have a need to get the i7 with 8gb of RAM, ( as of now). I know the i5 4gb would be fine for my use. However, my question is should I spend the extra money to get a higher spec MacBook Air or just get the base? I'm trying to decide if by upgrading the Air is worth the money in the extra amount of time I will get out of it. Secondly, from what I researched the i5/i7 only turbo boost in some apps that are optimized for the chips. How popular is the support for the ultra low voltage i5/i7?
	0

Jan 18, 2013, 02:37 PM	#8
wolfpuppies3 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Virginia, USA	Do it, go for the i7. whatever is adequate today will be overtaxed tomorrow. unless, of course, you upgrade every year. __________________ 2012 MBA 13, 2 Ghz i7, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD; 2011 MBA 11, 1.8 Ghz i7, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD; 2010 MB Pro 15, 2.66 Ghz i7, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD; two iPad 3s and a mini, two iPhones and a bunch of iPods
	0

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Jan 16, 2013, 12:51 PM	#2
danistyping macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Boston, MA	They sell a ton of these things, so my guess is that support is widespread for ULV turbo boost. I have the i7 after returning the i5. You won't notice a day to day difference - they're both very fast. You will notice a difference when you do processor intensive things like compressing files, working with HD video, file conversion and audio recording. I strongly suggest the 8GB RAM upgrade. This is important for future proofing the device (unless you don't plan on owning it long). More significant than the i7 upgrade. Do both if you can afford it.
	0

Jan 16, 2013, 12:56 PM	#3
Nimravus macrumors member Join Date: Jan 2013	i7 runs hotter and uses more power so if you don't need it, stick with the i5. The i5 in the Mid 2012 MBA from what I researched now hyper threads as does the i7 so the performance bump is minimal. Maybe worth it if you are doing heavy processing but at a battery hit. i5 is overkill for most consumers I think, who check email, sur the web, light video/photo edit, etc. I would however get the 8gb ram for $100 more. It's not upgradable later so you will be stuck with 4gb if you don't order it with 8gb. The SSD is upgradable so I would go with the 128gb and if you need to later, upgrade the SSD and use the one that came with the MBA as an external SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure. For the same $300 it will cost you to get the 256gb SSD from Apple, you can upgrade after but now have the extra drive. Just my thoughts, MBA is an awesome choice for portability.
	1

Jan 17, 2013, 03:39 AM	#4
krspkbl macrumors regular Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: UK	Originally, when first considering the Air, I was gonna just max it out with i7/8GB/256GB. I ended up getting i5/8GB/128GB. Coming from a 4 year old MacBook, the i5 feels like a beast! Like others have said, the i7 only has minimal speed advantages when doing intensive processes. It runs hotter and uses more battery. If you absolutely need more processing power and don't mind the lower battery life then I'd suggest looking at a Pro model. The i5 is great and it's perfectly fine for just browsing the net, watching YouTube (4K playback is smooth!), listening to music, watching films, word processing and light gaming (chess/minecraft/football manager) That's about all I need it for. I can't tell you how far these machines can be pushed as I haven't really tested it myself. Again, I'm comparing this to an 4 year old MacBook but i was impressed by how cool the Air runs! It's get warm of course but still very cool especially for such a small computer! Depending on settings/usage you can get anywhere between 6.5/9hrs usage out the battery. I'd suggest i5 Air or a Pro model depending on what you want to do. Maybe the i7 isn't really as bad as I seem to be making it out to be but this is just my thoughts. Finally, the i5 can turbo boost up to 2.8ghz and has 2 virtual cores. It is a dual core but each core runs a virtual core so in some sort of definition you potentially have a 2.8ghz quad-core CPU. This is only available if needed of course. As for other specs. Definitely get 8GB if you can afford it! I never seem to use more than 4GB but it's there if you need it, it'll future proof the machine when you update to upcoming OS releases. Also, it'll get you more if you want to sell it for whatever reason. The SSD is can be upgraded by yourself. I have ~71GB free still and once it fills up I can just put some stuff on an external HD. Hopefully by that time SSD prices drop a good bit and there are more 3rd party drives available for the Air.
	0

Jan 17, 2013, 04:40 AM	#5
Grmnracing Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Nov 2011	Thank you everyone. It will be the i5 8gb Air. And it will be my first Mac!
	0