13" i5 with SSD vs. i7?

[MacCrackAddict]

so i'll be getting a new MBP in a few weeks and as it clearly states in the thread title, i'm torn between the £/$300 upgrade from i5 to i7 or getting an i5 and using the 300 extra for a 240gb OCZ SSD? the only CPU intensive thing i really do regularly is video converting so i know the i7 is ever so slightly better but would i5 handle that ok? if i just got an SSD to make it a bit nippier in general?

Or is i7 worth such a massive difference by itself?

hope i made it clear enough

 

[brentsg]

I was going to direct you to a thread from yesterday that discussed this topic.

Then I realized that it was your thread.

 

[1quick1]

IMO the i5 is plenty powerful. I'd get the i5 with the SSD or if you want to spend the extra cash upgrade the 15'' with the quad-core i7 if that's an option.

 

[MacCrackAddict]

@ brentsg, yeah i know but i hadnt considered SSD until looking around these forums and decided an SSD might be a better option!

and thanks for clarifying the i5 being powerful enough it's just worrying to keep comparing the i5 and i7 trying to figure out if i'll be wasting my time getting an i5 but the general feel seems to be that the extra processing power of the i7 won't be hugely noticed!

 

[NikFinn]

I was going to direct you to a thread from yesterday that discussed this topic.

Then I realized that it was your thread.

Well now... That's awkward....

 

[brentsg]

@ brentsg, yeah i know but i hadnt considered SSD until looking around these forums and decided an SSD might be a better option!

and thanks for clarifying the i5 being powerful enough it's just worrying to keep comparing the i5 and i7 trying to figure out if i'll be wasting my time getting an i5 but the general feel seems to be that the extra processing power of the i7 won't be hugely noticed!

Well it seemed yesterday that you were headed for an i5.

The i7 only makes sense in very specialized situations, but never for the general user. Are you going to notice a 5-10% performance difference? You'll definitely notice the additional money you spent.

Note, if you need hardware directed I/O in a virtual machine.. or you want to do full disk encryption then you probably want the i7. Those would be my primary drivers if I had gone that way, but they weren't.. so I didn't.

 

[NikFinn]

You'll definitely notice the additional money you spent.

The SSD will probably be much more noticeable in everyday performance than the processor upgrade.

 

[MacCrackAddict]

thanks guys i am set on the i5 now,

sorry for the confusion just throwing SSD into the equation just meant i was reconsidering but cleared up now

thanks again

 

[adnoh]

Go with the i5 and ssd