Upgrade MacBook Air 2013 i5 to i7?

[ugahairydawgs]

I personally don't understand why anyone wouldn't go for the i7 and 8GB of RAM. If you're spending $1000+ anyway, then is it really worth cheaping out over another $250? When it comes to processor and RAM, I would always rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I'm with you on the RAM. I would almost always say go for the RAM upgrade on a device that cannot be upgraded in the future.

But not so much on the CPU. For most casual users (the folks that mainly use it for doc creation, web browsing, watching movies, using iTunes) they will never come close to using the full potential of the 1.3 i5. So for folks that fall into that group, spending an extra $150 just for the hell of it is a waste of $$.

If you are going to do any media creation or editing or running some apps that do heavy calculations, then absolutely do the upgrade. But for the large number of users who, quite frankly, would be fine with 5 year old Macbook for their use case, the i5 on the MBA is more than sufficient.

 

[palpatine]

I personally don't understand why anyone wouldn't go for the i7 and 8GB of RAM. If you're spending $1000+ anyway, then is it really worth cheaping out over another $250? When it comes to processor and RAM, I would always rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Because it is unnecessary for many use cases.

If you get a tricked out 11" then you'll be spending at least 25% more for the computer than you would if you went with the stock unit, and if you have 0 page outs using 4GB of RAM, a lot of free memory, and you don't do "high end" stuff, then you are wasting your money.

 

[Neeyul]

...don't do "high end" stuff, then you are wasting your money.

I believe the Haswell i5's will still be sufficient for those kinds of tasks anyway. If you have to have thaaaaat much more performance, you're probably better off with a MBP or a self-build.

You can build a really great desktop system from scratch for about $600. I might add too that you can get a 3.1ghz 8-core AMD FX processor for less than the price of the i5>i7 upgrade.

 

[james1758]

I'd say
- ALWAYS upgrade to 8gb RAM
- Recommended upgrade to 256gb ssd
- Depending on your usage upgrade to i7

If you've got the money then I'd say upgrade to i7, if not then you really wont see a massive difference between the two in everyday tasks

 

[Serrat]

I'd say
- ALWAYS upgrade to 8gb RAM
- Recommended upgrade to 256gb ssd
- Depending on your usage upgrade to i7

If you've got the money then I'd say upgrade to i7, if not then you really wont see a massive difference between the two in everyday tasks

So how is this for games? I like playing some WoW and other titles when I'm away from home, and I know some of them are quite dependent on the processor. I do have the funds for the i7, but other than some games, I don't do any heavy lifting, so if i5 is more then sufficent I go with that.

 

[Neeyul]

I'm in the same gaming boat, and I went with the i5 and 8gb: it will be more than enough to run wow on great settings even in raids.

 

[james1758]

So how is this for games? I like playing some WoW and other titles when I'm away from home, and I know some of them are quite dependent on the processor. I do have the funds for the i7, but other than some games, I don't do any heavy lifting, so if i5 is more then sufficent I go with that.

Like the guy above is saying you should be able to run WoW on it, it does turbo boost up to 2.6GHz! But in all honesty if you have the money then get the i7 I've never seen complaints from people having to much processing power

 

[Jim86]

My question when it comes to upgrading to i7 is will it run hotter and will the battery life be shorter because of it.

I don't mind paying the extra for the upgrade but if it effects battery life and runs hotter then I see these are negatives for upgrading just for the sake of it.

Does anyone know whether this will happen?

Thanks

 

[james1758]

My question when it comes to upgrading to i7 is will it run hotter and will the battery life be shorter because of it.

I don't mind paying the extra for the upgrade but if it effects battery life and runs hotter then I see these are negatives for upgrading just for the sake of it.

Does anyone know whether this will happen?

Thanks

The intel website said battery life would be the same for both the i5 and i7.. but hey the manufacturer would say that I'm not sure on real world stats..

 

[curtoise]

My question when it comes to upgrading to i7 is will it run hotter and will the battery life be shorter because of it.

I don't mind paying the extra for the upgrade but if it effects battery life and runs hotter then I see these are negatives for upgrading just for the sake of it.

Does anyone know whether this will happen?

Thanks

I have both machines here with me now, setting up the i7 so far the fan is loud and spinning non stop while setting dropbox on a fresh machine, the i5 never had that issue, I'll report back soon.

 

[yzh]

I have both machines here with me now, setting up the i7 so far the fan is loud and spinning non stop while setting dropbox on a fresh machine, the i5 never had that issue, I'll report back soon.

Thanks for testing this! I'm curious about the outcome... Also curious about the heat in the same circumstances.

 

[imsyBarracuda]

Also interested to know this as still can't decide whether to upgrade to i7 or not.

Have done some research myself also and seems power consumption is very similar - but i7 has a lower thermal ceiling (72.6 °C rather than the i5's 100°C) that sounds to me that i7 will get throttled as it reaches 72.6C ???)

But the one feature that draws me towards a i7 is the fact that it maybe unlocked - and being a PC builder for decades - it sounds appealing! (this will be my first mac!!)

See links for comparisons between the two:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4650U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4250U#features-body

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/861/Intel_Core_i5_Mobile_i5-4250U_vs_Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-4650U.html

 

[ra004e]

Also interested to know this as still can't decide whether to upgrade to i7 or not.

Have done some research myself also and seems power consumption is very similar - but i7 has a lower thermal ceiling (72.6 °C rather than the i5's 100°C) that sounds to me that i7 will get throttled as it reaches 72.6C ???)

But the one feature that draws me towards a i7 is the fact that it maybe unlocked - and being a PC builder for decades - it sounds appealing! (this will be my first mac!!)

See links for comparisons between the two:

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4650U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4250U#features-body

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/861/Intel_Core_i5_Mobile_i5-4250U_vs_Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-4650U.html

This is what Intel has posted for specs, http://ark.intel.com/compare/75114,75028
Thermals posted here show both processors are the same.

 

[Neeyul]

They may have the same thermal design, but several users are now saying their i7s fans come on more often and are louder than expected.

 

[musika]

They may have the same thermal design, but several users are now saying their i7s fans come on more often and are louder than expected.

At this point, I expect that I'll probably be exchanging my BTO i7/8GB/256 for a stock 256 model when it comes this week. I just want my notebook to be simple.

 

[curtoise]

At this point, I expect that I'll probably be exchanging my BTO i7/8GB/256 for a stock 256 model when it comes this week. I just want my notebook to be simple.

I think the sweetest spot is i5/8gb/256ssd

 

[musika]

I think the sweetest spot is i5/8gb/256ssd

I think I'll order that. Here goes another week of waiting...

 

[johnjey]

I think I'll order that. Here goes another week of waiting...

Isn't the sweetest spot an i5/8gb/512 SSD ==> either ways i am going to blow up 1500$ by either going with the i7 or 512 SSD.....please somebody give me a REAL WORLD USAGE DATA on battery and heating for i-7 and i will EXPEDITE order my 11' air.

PS: I already have a 2012 august Pro (13 inch, 2.5 ghz, 10GB RAM, 5400 Sata 500GB drive) and this thing becomes HOT

 

[curtoise]

Isn't the sweetest spot an i5/8gb/512 SSD ==> either ways i am going to blow up 1500$ by either going with the i7 or 512 SSD.....please somebody give me a REAL WORLD USAGE DATA on battery and heating for i-7 and i will EXPEDITE order my 11' air.

PS: I already have a 2012 august Pro (13 inch, 2.5 ghz, 10GB RAM, 5400 Sata 500GB drive) and this thing becomes HOT

Tell me what apps you open and what you do for the machine to get hot and I'll try them here and report back to you.

 

[ftaok]

I'm struggling deciding between the i5/8/256 vs the i7/8/256. To me, I know I want the 8gb because its not upgradable. 256 is enough for now, and there's a chance that can be upgraded later. So it's between the i5 and i7

I know my use case wont really tax the i5, except I may do more video editing with iMovie or a more intermediate editing app.

My main case point for the i7 is future proofing, but not in the traditional sense. I would be upset if apple makes an arbitrary OS X cutoff at the dual core i5. This really hampers the ability to use older Macs as iTunes servers or such. We have a core duo MB that's stuck on 10.6, so eventually cool iTunes features will be shutout for the MB.

I'd hate for the cutoff of some future OS X to fall between the haswell i5 and i7 and for me to be on the wrong side.

Anyone have any insight or comments to this? Thanks

 

[Neeyul]

I think you'll get a new machine far sooner than Apple will release anything that WON'T run on the Haswell i5.

 

[ftaok]

I think you'll get a new machine far sooner than Apple will release anything that WON'T run on the Haswell i5.

That's not the point. My point is how useful this i5/i7 would be in its second life as a server or something.

I dodged a bullet this time around with itunes11. It runs on snow leopard. I'm pretty sure itunes12 will require At least Lion, which would minimize my MacBook's value as an iTunes server.

This is the type of future proofing that I'm concerned with.

 

[curtoise]

That's not the point. My point is how useful this i5/i7 would be in its second life as a server or something.

I dodged a bullet this time around with itunes11. It runs on snow leopard. I'm pretty sure itunes12 will require At least Lion, which would minimize my MacBook's value as an iTunes server.

This is the type of future proofing that I'm concerned with.

I think you should go for the ultimate model, then non need to worry for a long time.

 

[Jazwire]

My question when it comes to upgrading to i7 is will it run hotter and will the battery life be shorter because of it.

I don't mind paying the extra for the upgrade but if it effects battery life and runs hotter then I see these are negatives for upgrading just for the sake of it.

Does anyone know whether this will happen?

Thanks

This is the question I am waiting to get answered for the last week.

Maybe someone will answer it tomorrow.

 

[DarwinOSX]

The extra cache on the processor makes more of a difference than people realize.

Here's a very informative article on the i5 vs i7:

http://www.pcmech.com/article/deciding-between-i5-vs-i7-processor/

The dual-core i7 doesn’t really have much difference at all over a dual-core i5. Both have hyper-threading. Basically, you get a little higher clock speed, but that’s about it. So, when buying a laptop, pay attention to the number of cores the i7 has. Here’s why… Image


This Macbook Pro has a base model which is the dual-core i5. For $300 more, you’re getting a dual-core i7. Now, you’re also getting more memory and a bigger hard drive, but the point is this… the two processors aren’t going to be very different. They’re the same except for the clock speed and a little extra cache internally. Worth it? Maybe not in your case.


Bump up to a quad-core i7 and it is a different matter. A quad-core i7 will out-perform an i5 very easily. But, again, you have to think about what you’re going to be doing on the machine and if your habits need the extra power.


The truth is, the extra processing power these upgrade prices will buy you – for most users – will sit there dormant and unused.


So, Pay The Extra Money for the i7? Yes or No?

If money isn’t the huge deciding factor and you want a PC which is more future-proof, then I would say go ahead and grab the i7 if we’re talking about a desktop computer.
When it comes to mobile, consider the other upgrades you’re getting. Unless you bump up to a quad-core, the performance differences between the i5 and i7 are fairly negligible. Spending money on an SSD drive or more memory would be a better performance gain for the buck.

The truth is, for most people reading this article, you will never personally notice the performance differences between an i5 and i7. In fact, almost all modern CPUs can crunch faster than we need these days. Processors are rarely the bottleneck anymore. Instead, focus on the speed of your storage (mechanical hard drive versus SSD, for instance) and the amount of memory in your machine. These things will be a lot more relevant to overall speed than your processor these days.


CPU upgrades don’t provide the value for the buck that they used to.