2011 MBP 15'' quadcore i7 worth the hype and the price?

[AmericanDreamer]

I bought the 13'' MBP 2.4 ghz coreduo and I run GNS3 which is a processor intensive program. My cpu is usually running at 75-90%.

I am thinking about getting the 2011 15'' i7 quadcore with a SSD, but I am not familiar with the quadcore technology. Will the i7 quadcore handle cpu intensive programs a lot better then my current MBP? Also, will I noticed a tremedous difference in speed?

I will be using my MBP for email, web surfing, iTunes, watching movies and running GNS3.

Please excuse my ignorance... Thanks in advance!

 

[Hellhammer]

Quad core i7 runs circles around your C2D, so yes, you should notice a big difference.

 

[underblu]

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If the application you are using is multithreaded then you should see a significant improvement in performance

 

[AmericanDreamer]

Thanks for your replies..

From your responses, it looks like the i7 is the way to go....

 

[prism]

Thanks for your replies..

From your responses, it looks like the i7 is the way to go....

If you are happy with the 13" form factor, you should also consider the core i5 which, although not as fast as the quad core, is also substantially faster than a core 2 duo thanks to the hyperthreading technology.

 

[AmericanDreamer]

Thanks for your response Prism. I thought about the i5 too, but I figured that I would go big or go home .

Question for the masses...

I am not doing any photo editing, but I going to be running GNS3 which is cpu intensive. If I maxed out the MBA, do you think that it could handle it or am I just wasting my time and money and I should just get the 15'' quadcore as planned?

 

[Hellhammer]

Thanks for your response Prism. I thought about the i5 too, but I figured that I would go big or go home .

Question for the masses...

I am not doing any photo editing, but I going to be running GNS3 which is cpu intensive. If I maxed out the MBA, do you think that it could handle it or am I just wasting my time and money and I should just get the 15'' quadcore as planned?

Maxed out MBA would be slower than your current computer. Go with the 15" MBP if you want CPU speed.

 

[AmericanDreamer]

Cool... Thanks for the info. It looks like I will be getting the i7!

Thanks everyone for your great info!