2011 13" MBP with i7 Performance Question

[Wicked1]

Does anyone here have one of these, and are they really worth the $1,600.00 price?

I am looking at one to replace my 2009 uMB 2.4, as I am looking for a boost in GPU performance, and FW800, but I am not sure how this machine performs overall?


Also do these support 6.0 GB Sata III right now? If you own one, I would like to know your thoughts and opinions before I purchase one.

 

[MacCrackAddict]

What will you use it for?

Yes they are beastly powerful and i find it worth it but even the i5 will be a massive upgrade for you. I went from a 2008 MB to i7 but i mostly notice it when encoding video a lot faster than my C2D and it plays my games like Empire At War better but the decision between i5 and i7 is hugely dependent on what part of the 'GPU Performance' you want to see upgraded

 

[Kentochan]

*I have the Core i5, but wanted to input anyways*

When I was looking into buying the 13" MBP, I had the same question. After thinking it out, I went with the low-end 2.3Ghz Core i5, and am not regretting it. For my needs, the i5 does everything without a problem (mostly web-surfing, school stuff, programming, playing SC2 on medium settings). I can't answer about FW800 as I haven't had the need to use it. Also these MBPs do support 6.0GB SATA III And the biggest plus is that I have some cash left over!

 

[Wicked1]

Photo editing, massive iTunes library, also use it for a media server when I connect my ATV.

Windows games on Boot camp like COD4, Halo, BF2 etc.

I will be using it a lot fo import my entire DVD library to digital, so endcoding etc, also I would like to import video's from my old 8MM Video Camera and create movies on it.

So is the i7 overkill for this, I would rather not get the i5 simply because I keep my Macs for 2-3 years.

Also I want to get a decent SSD for boot, and run everything else off of my external FW800 drive

 

[ghostlyorb]

You'll be fine with what you need to do! It's still beastly!

 

[brentsg]

So is the i7 overkill for this, I would rather not get the i5 simply because I keep my Macs for 2-3 years.

real world benchmarks show the i7 being 5-10% faster than the i5 in real world activity.

The question is whether you want to pay the difference for 5-10%. I wouldn't think you're going to get an extra year out of it due to the i7 or anything. It's just not that significant.

 

[Wicked1]

i7 2.7 operates on a faster GPU frequency also, so I was thinking from an encoding point of view it would be the better way to go, also I am getting this for my son who is doing audio and video work in school, so final cost is $100 less after his school discount. I was going to get a 17" for myself and give him my 2009 uMB 2.4 but then my wife wants a mac so she will take that, he will get a new 13" and I will get a Refurbished 17"

I am just wondering if there are any benchmarks between the Core2Duo, the i3, i5, and i7's as I am trying to determine just how much faster the new macs are over C2D.

Also how is the Intel Integrated GPU

 

[FOX160]

Regarding bench marks the new sandy Bridge runs about 30% faster than
the older core2duo Also the 13 inch i5 is much faster than last years 15inch
MBP base model.

 

[mac jones]

I'm not a tech person, but the 2.7 i7 i'm using has got to be double the power of any c2d that i've used.

Gets rather warm achieving this feat, BTW

 

[mikey28]

I just bought the Macbook Pro 13-- 2.7 i7. And I am sure I cannot not justify getting the better model.
I just officially handed over the Mac desktop to the kids-- this one is way more powerful, and has more memory--So this will be my "desk-top" I also have the MacBook Air 11 for work and commute.
I try to get the better equipped models if I can, because I want to hold on to them for 2 years or more, and then hand them down.

 

[kobyh15]

I bought the 13" i7 about 2 weeks ago. Fastest computer I've ever used. I got it off of MacMall for $1401.20 with free shipping and no tax through AppleInsider. Make sure you go to MacMall through AppleInsider's links to get the price shown. It's a great deal! If you do any video encoding, run any VMs, or plan on doing any disk encryption I would highly recommend the i7. It will not disappoint.

 

[brentsg]

I bought the 13" i7 about 2 weeks ago. Fastest computer I've ever used. I got it off of MacMall for $1401.20 with free shipping and no tax through AppleInsider. Make sure you go to MacMall through AppleInsider's links to get the price shown. It's a great deal! If you do any video encoding, run any VMs, or plan on doing any disk encryption I would highly recommend the i7. It will not disappoint.

It's absolutely NOT critical to have the i7 for VMs. In fact it's not even clear that any of the current VM software available can even take advantage of the VT-d feature that the i7 adds, much less require it.

 

[kobyh15]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I bought the 13" i7 about 2 weeks ago. Fastest computer I've ever used. I got it off of MacMall for $1401.20 with free shipping and no tax through AppleInsider. Make sure you go to MacMall through AppleInsider's links to get the price shown. It's a great deal! If you do any video encoding, run any VMs, or plan on doing any disk encryption I would highly recommend the i7. It will not disappoint.

It's absolutely NOT critical to have the i7 for VMs. In fact it's not even clear that any of the current VM software available can even take advantage of the VT-d feature that the i7 adds, much less require it.

I know that no VM requires Vt-d. That doesn't mean that it's not a nice feature to have, and if the OP is keeping their computer for the next 3 or 4 years like me, maybe they would be interested in knowing some advantages of the i7 over the i5. You don't think that any VMs will take advantage of Vt-d within the next 3 to 4 years? Highly doubtful that they wouldn't. Just presenting some information for the OP to think about. Not attacking those that bought the i5. It is a great machine.