Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Upgrade MacBook Air 2013 i5 to i7?
- Thread starter kuzzkuzz
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm with you, just to get that out of the way.
Bottom line is, unless someone has an i5 w/ xGB of RAM sitting right next to an i7 w/ the same amount of RAM, no one is going to know what they're missing anyway. Someone with an i5 isn't going to notice it performing worse and someone with an i7 isn't going to notice it performing better if there's is the lone sample in the equation..
I have the i7. I can't honestly say "Oh yea, I can feel my money hard at work! Who would get that stupid i5?"..it just isn't possible. I'm happy with it, though.
It's the same for someone with an i5. They can't honestly say "Oh yea, money well saved, who needs that stupid i7?" They just can't know without having a way to test both machines side-by-side at the same time. All that matters is if they're satisfied with what they've got.
And that's how any purchase should be thought of (of course it isn't always, we Americans aren't hardwired like that, it's something that has to be learned)..not whether someone with the upgraded/more expensive version's is better, just if you're happy with the one you have because, rest assured, someone will always have something "better" than you, no matter how much you want to think otherwise.
Yeah, that's probably why Apple offers it as an option, Because nobody would ever notice it....
Its market segmentation - note that the i7 is only offered as BTO and actually the cost is pretty small. There is always a market for those who want the "ultimate" as there are many buyers who really don't care if they need it or not. I actually took that logic when I went for i7 on my previous purchase of a 2011 13" MBA.
This time I was more practical and went for the i5 on my 2013 11" and think its the best option since the extra battery life is why I upgraded in the first place.
Most applications today really don't demand a lot out of the processor. Most of the time, the processor is in idle or a fraction of its potential and peak power exploited only on limited occasions. That is the beauty of Haswell - one of the big reasons it saves on power is the ability to adapt to actual demand. In day to day use, the i5 is rarely maxed out.
The exception would be for the relative few users out there that use an ultraportable for high demand applications like video encoding - in that case the extra 20% would be noticed.
...This time I was more practical and went for the i5 on my 2013 11" and think its the best option FOR ME since the extra battery life is why I upgraded in the first place.
There, I fixed it for ya.
Call it market segmentation, call it whatever you want. One is faster and performs better than the other. That's why two models exist. Choose yours based on your needs and budget, and you will be fine. Although I always say no one has ever complained about their computer being too fast.
----------
No. It has already been shown through performance monitoring applications that the extra boost kicks in doing regular things like opening your browser and your mail. Some people are more sensitive to lag than others. Some people rather have the fastest possible option, especially if it doesn't cost a lot. This argument that only "high demand" applications benefit from the extra horsepower of the i7 has already been debunked. Try again.
There, I fixed it for ya.
Call it market segmentation, call it whatever you want. One is faster and performs better than the other. That's why two models exist. Choose yours based on your needs and budget, and you will be fine. Although I always say no one has ever complained about their computer being too fast.
----------
No. It has already been shown through performance monitoring applications that the extra boost kicks in doing regular things like opening your browser and your mail. Some people are more sensitive to lag than others. Some people rather have the fastest possible option, especially if it doesn't cost a lot. This argument that only "high demand" applications benefit from the extra horsepower of the i7 has already been debunked. Try again.
OK if your superhuman powers can detect the browser opening 1/1000 second faster, then its a great value for you! I'm sure that will give you at least one more second per month more of watching cat videos!
Its not a matter of superhuman powers. It can be something as subtle as a little lag opening a browser window or switching applications. There are some of us who would rather have the fastest CPU possible to minimize the possibility. Some would rather save a little money and get a little slower computer. Nothing wrong with that.
What is wrong is to ignore or deny that there is a difference. If there wasn't, Apple wouldn't be offering it as an option. Most reviews have clearly shown the difference, including the impact on battery life. Some posters on this thread have shared their experience and observations, both subjective and using monitoring tools. So yes, there is a difference. Whether it is worth it to you or anyone else is another matter. But the difference is there.
Enjoy your i5.
There is an app from Intel you can use to see your clock speed in real time. I have been using it in both OSX and Windows partitions.
The Haswell processors Apple has selected are extremely flexible, and in fact as expensive as faster clocked models with Iris graphics. Apple really went for low TDP with the Airs.
The Haswell processors Apple has selected are extremely flexible, and in fact as expensive as faster clocked models with Iris graphics. Apple really went for low TDP with the Airs.
I've put in more than my 2 cents in this thread if you want to see my experience and data:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1526629/
You mean you want me to summarize for you the information in some of the 186 posts in this thread?
Ummmmmm, no. Read the whole thread then get back to me if you have questions.
Answer my question.
Have you used an Air with the i5 and an Air with an i7 right next to each other while they performed the same tasks?
You seem to have awfully strong opinions on the i5 vs. i7 debate, without any evidence to back it up.
I've downloaded the app from Intel and have first hand experience in watching how fast the processor ramps up. It doesn't take any real strain at all to have it max out. Just moving the scroll bars in Safari or opening Pages documents are enough to make it quickly peg to its maximum clock rate. It's a myth that you need to "stress it" to have it ramp up. Download the app and see for yourself.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17791214/
I'm talking about real world vs. benchmark reports and theory.
I'm betting if you took at i5 and an i7 and ask someone to browse a few minutes and come back and tell me which one is the i7, I bet they could not.
You said:
I'm saying that is inaccurate and it's just a myth that the Haswell processors rarely max out through dynamic over-clocking. It's a much more common occurrence than the prevailing wisdom suggests, hence you would experience the higher clock rate and get more benefit from an i7 vs. an i5 than has been portrayed. I'm NOT debating how the overall experience between the i5 and i7 will vary; I'm just trying to correct the mistaken impression that the ONLY time you see the i5's and i7's ramp up above their base clock rate is when they are "stressed". That is simply not true. They quickly max out when doing just very average everyday ordinary tasks, and then quickly drop back down once the task is complete. They don't just ramp up only when during heavy duty tasks such as video rendering, photo exporting, video exporting, etc, but when scrolling through iTunes, scrolling through Mail, browsing online, etc. as well.
I'm saying that is inaccurate and it's just a myth that the Haswell processors rarely max out through dynamic over-clocking. It's a much more common occurrence than the prevailing wisdom suggests, hence you would experience the higher clock rate and get more benefit from an i7 vs. an i5 than has been portrayed. I'm NOT debating how the overall experience between the i5 and i7 will vary; I'm just trying to correct the mistaken impression that the ONLY time you see the i5's and i7's ramp up above their base clock rate is when they are "stressed". That is simply not true. They quickly max out when doing just very average everyday ordinary tasks, and then quickly drop back down once the task is complete. They don't just ramp up only when during heavy duty tasks such as video rendering, photo exporting, video exporting, etc, but when scrolling through iTunes, scrolling through Mail, browsing online, etc. as well.
Its market segmentation - note that the i7 is only offered as BTO and actually the cost is pretty small. There is always a market for those who want the "ultimate" as there are many buyers who really don't care if they need it or not. I actually took that logic when I went for i7 on my previous purchase of a 2011 13" MBA.
This time I was more practical and went for the i5 on my 2013 11" and think its the best option since the extra battery life is why I upgraded in the first place.
B and H you can order them all day.....
I've asked him that twice. He refuses to answer it, so it's pretty clear he's not had the two side-by-side to compare.
+1 Had both the i5 and i7 machines and after playing with both, it was plainly clear just after opening complex web pages like Facebook on which CPU is faster. The same people who can't see the difference are the same type who claim a Retina screen isn't appreciably better. Wish I couldn't notice the difference as it would've saved me some dough lol.
wow, this thread is still going, huh?
i've tried them both side by side and i was convinced that there was a difference. although there has been at least one person in this thread who has done the same thing and noticed no difference. read the thread - mattferg agrees with you.
Did you notice difference in fan noise between the two in everyday life? Was the i7 noisier? Did it get noisier faster?
Not really, both the i5/i7 got hot when processing RAW picture files from my DSLR with lightroom. For daily use such as surfing, youtube, and netflix they're both very quiet.
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.
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks.