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2016 MBP- Benefits of the i5 to i7 upgrade

skids929

skids929

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 24, 2011
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Is this potentially worth it? I mean in terms of performance day to day? I am a fairly light user but want a fast laptop that gives me many years of service. Would the upgrade to the i7 theoretically hold me over a little longer than an i5?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.
 
skids929 said:
Is this potentially worth it? I mean in terms of performance day to day? I am a fairly light user but want a fast laptop that gives me many years of service. Would the upgrade to the i7 theoretically hold me over a little longer than an i5?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.
Click to expand...

No. in your case an i3 might serve you well enough already.
 
bethpapa74 said:
No. in your case an i3 might serve you well enough already.
Click to expand...

Probably true! The temptation to spec up at initial order is always there. To be honest if I didn't want the touchbar the stock MB with the F keys would be fine. But I'd like to get many years out of this machine so I don't mind specing it up a little.
 
The CPU upgrade is the most overpriced and least useful upgrade option.
Before even considering it, you should upgrade RAM and SSD.
 
As you are a light user, you won't notice any difference and by the time the processor becomes obsolete, another 5-7% performance gain wouldn't change that at all.

The best option would be saving the money and investing it in upgrading after in example 4 instead of 5 years.
 
Some reviewers are saying that unless you have a pre 2013 MBP, this one isn't worth the upgrade. So certainly i5-i7 won't be much of a difference.
 
dacreativeguy said:
Some reviewers are saying that unless you have a pre 2013 MBP, this one isn't worth the upgrade. So certainly i5-i7 won't be much of a difference.
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I am on a 11 white MB!! :)

this will be like going from a Prius to a Lamorghini!
 
I don't think that's completely true. The i7 are higher binned chips and have more cache as well. Doesn't mean you necessarily need it, but it's not just a label change.

I don't have a spec sheet in front of me, but architecturally they are very similar, of course, and the only difference is really binning/what is disabled/enabled and how they perform/rate when coming out of the fab process, but it's not at all accurate to say i7 is just marketing.

sbpax said:
The i7 itself is just marketing. There are no extra features compared to the i5, just about 200Mhz more.

Officail Intel comparison of the 2 i5 and i7 on the 13 touch bar model:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/91166,91164,91167
Click to expand...
 
dacreativeguy said:
Some reviewers are saying that unless you have a pre 2013 MBP, this one isn't worth the upgrade. So certainly i5-i7 won't be much of a difference.
Click to expand...

There's huge improvements in graphics performance, dramatically faster SSD performance, real innovation with the touch bar and touch id. I couldn't imagine any serious Mac fan wanting to stay even with the previous generation MBP. You simply have to upgrade to one of these new machines.
 
bmustaf said:
I don't think that's completely true. The i7 are higher binned chips and have more cache as well. Doesn't mean you necessarily need it, but it's not just a label change.

I don't have a spec sheet in front of me, but architecturally they are very similar, of course, and the only difference is really binning/what is disabled/enabled and how they perform/rate when coming out of the fab process, but it's not at all accurate to say i7 is just marketing.
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Dude. I linked the intel ARK comparison ffs. Just read it, they are identical.
 
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dumastudetto said:
There's huge improvements in graphics performance, dramatically faster SSD performance, real innovation with the touch bar and touch id. I couldn't imagine any serious Mac fan wanting to stay even with the previous generation MBP. You simply have to upgrade to one of these new machines
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There is a term for that :)
 
Ok but I don't know if I make a mistake but dual i7 have hyper threading so they have 2 more virtual core ? Doesn't impact performances ?
 
skids929 said:
Is this potentially worth it? I mean in terms of performance day to day? I am a fairly light user but want a fast laptop that gives me many years of service. Would the upgrade to the i7 theoretically hold me over a little longer than an i5?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.
Click to expand...

pookitoo said:
Ok but I don't know if I make a mistake but dual i7 have hyper threading so they have 2 more virtual core ? Doesn't impact performances ?
Click to expand...

The i5 also has hyper threading, i7 offers in this case only a very small performance boost, that the vast majority of users will never notice outside of giving Apple another $300...

Q-6
 
Thank a lot for your reply ! I have no more remorse (I ordered 13 inch tb I5 / 16 go ram / 512 SSD, but so many doubt to haven't take the I7)

I can serenely wait to receive mine ;)
 
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