13” rMBP: What do you need i7 for?

[rhyzome]

Who needs an i7 quad core 13” compared to the i5 quad core 13”?

What tasks is the processor upgrade useful or necessary for?

Also, How much heat does the device give off with the upgrade vs without? Will it be burning your lap vs just getting warm?

 

[1096bimu]

the i7 upgrade on the 13" is actually quite significant, you go from 3.8Ghz boost to 4.5Ghz boost, which is 18% higher.
so anything that doesn't go on for long enough to activate throttling will simply be 18% faster, things like exporting a few RAW photos.
And yes it can actually be faster than the base 15" model because Lightroom doesn't really use more than 4 cores or the GPU. Plus you get the portability of the 13"

 

[Newtons Apple]

AutoCad likes the i7 way better than the i5. I suspect that PhotoShop does, too.

 

[rhyzome]

Cool...that nudges me in the i7 direction then.

One worry I have is about heat. How does choosing i7 affect heat and fan use?

The thing I hate about my current mid-2014 15" quad core i7 is how hot it gets and how frequently the fans run.