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Just1nCase

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 14, 2006
75
0
I know you see a lot of these posts on what specs to get.. but I'm currently indecisive and I would hate to spend my hard-earned cash on a computer that I should gotten instead.

So I need your help. I am deciding whether it's worth getting the better CPU (2.6, 2.8) or max out the memory to 16GB? or both?

I am a graphic designer. I do lots of multitasking between apps (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) and handle hi resolution files. The purpose of this laptop is to be a portable extension to my existing setup at home where I have a 27" Mid-2011 iMac 3.4GHz i7, 16GB of RAM, 256 SSD with 1TB Optical Drive.

I don't want this laptop to replace my current setup at home, but I hope to complement when I'm on the go.

Let me know what you think. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!
 
If the choice is 8GB of DRAM and a 2.8GHz CPU versus 16GB of DRAM and a 2.6GHz CPU, I would choose the latter without hesitation, for the use case you described.
 
I noticed another odd thing. (Or maybe not so odd)
But when you look at the specs of the Core i5 and Core i7 they are both listed as Dual core. I thought that the juce that brands a processor an i7 is that it's quad core?

Or is there some differences with the amount of cache?

Or is it as simple as if the processor has a higher clock speed it's an i7?

Oh another question, how is the heat levels with the i7 in the 13 inch?
 
Thanks! After thinking about it, 16gb of RAM does make sense in my situation since we're talking about multitasking and so forth.

Another question, let's say I purchase the 2.4GHz i5 (The low-end CPU option out of the three) rMBP with 16GB of RAM. Will the 2.4GHz i5 process bottleneck the performance of 16GB RAM?

----------

I noticed another odd thing. (Or maybe not so odd)
But when you look at the specs of the Core i5 and Core i7 they are both listed as Dual core. I thought that the juce that brands a processor an i7 is that it's quad core?

Or is there some differences with the amount of cache?

Or is it as simple as if the processor has a higher clock speed it's an i7?

Oh another question, how is the heat levels with the i7 in the 13 inch?

From what I know, the i5 is dual core and the i7 is quad-core. In terms of heat levels, this website here has benchmarks of the heat levels:

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/macbook-pro-15-inch-2013.aspx

However, it's benchmarks taken from a 15". I would imagine that the 13" would have similar results.
 
Thanks! After thinking about it, 16gb of RAM does make sense in my situation since we're talking about multitasking and so forth.

Another question, let's say I purchase the 2.4GHz i5 (The low-end CPU option out of the three) rMBP with 16GB of RAM. Will the 2.4GHz i5 process bottleneck the performance of 16GB RAM?

----------



From what I know, the i5 is dual core and the i7 is quad-core. In terms of heat levels, this website here has benchmarks of the heat levels:

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/macbook-pro-15-inch-2013.aspx

However, it's benchmarks taken from a 15". I would imagine that the 13" would have similar results.

The i7 in the 13" is dual core. Read Anantech's comparison of the 2013 macbook air i5 vs i7. Basically showed that the i7 will complete some tasks slightly faster (encoding, etc...) but use slightly more battery doing it. To me, if I'm not constantly encoding video/audio its not worth getting anything more than the base processor on the 13". 16GB ram upgrade is never a bad idea though if it is within your budget.
 
If I'm planning on light gaming, aRPG's like Torchlight, Diablo, PoE.. Will there be a noticeable difference between the i5 and the i7? is the Iris graphics the same in both of the chips?
 
Awesome, thanks for the feedback.

I believe I've nailed it down to 2.4GHz i5, 16GB of RAM, 256GB 15" rMBP.
 
If I'm planning on light gaming, aRPG's like Torchlight, Diablo, PoE.. Will there be a noticeable difference between the i5 and the i7? is the Iris graphics the same in both of the chips?

Not necessarily between the i5 and i7... But between the two speeds of i5, yes.


Both the 2.8 i7 and 2.6 GHz i5 processors have a 1.2 GHz graphics clock, vs. 1.1 GHz on the 2.4 GHz i5. This could provide a ~9% boost in graphics performance.

The overall performance boost from the 2.4 to 2.6 is greater than the 2.6 to 2.8.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75992,75991,75990 shows the differences between all three processors.

In short, as a gamer, you probably want the 2.6 GHz i5.
 
Not necessarily between the i5 and i7... But between the two speeds of i5, yes.


Both the 2.8 i7 and 2.6 GHz i5 processors have a 1.2 GHz graphics clock, vs. 1.1 GHz on the 2.4 GHz i5. This could provide a ~9% boost in graphics performance.

The overall performance boost from the 2.4 to 2.6 is greater than the 2.6 to 2.8.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75992,75991,75990 shows the differences between all three processors.

In short, as a gamer, you probably want the 2.6 GHz i5.

There shouldn't be a big battery difference between the 2.4 and 2.6 i5, right? Sounds like the higher-clocked i5 is a good alternative to the i7.
 
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