2018 MPB 13/16/512 - i5 vs i7

[cman-uk]

I'm waiting (11 days and counting) for my 2018 MPB 13/16/512 i7 to arrive and in the meantime have made the following observations on MR:

13/16/512 is considered the 'sweet spot' but many have gone with the i5 CPU rather than i7. Why is this? I've seen comments alluding to "don't expect much more by going for the i7".

For owners of 2018 MPB 13/16/512 which CPU did you go for and why?

 

[QCassidy352]

I'm waiting (11 days and counting) for my 2018 MPB 13/16/512 i7 to arrive and in the meantime have made the following observations on MR:

13/16/512 is considered the 'sweet spot' but many have gone with the i5 CPU rather than i7. Why is this? I've seen comments alluding to "don't expect much more by going for the i7".

For owners of 2018 MPB 13/16/512 which CPU did you go for and why?

As always, it depends on what you use it for, but the short answer is that not many tasks, for the typical user, are going to find the quad core i5 to be the limiting factor. The i5 may also run cooler.

 

[frou]

In addition to the 700MHz higher CPU turbo, the i7 also has 33% more L3 cache and its iGPU turbos an extra 150MHz.

https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/cores/coffee_lake_u

It's just that Apple put a fat markup on the i5 -> i7 upgrade option relative to their own costs. If you want the very best, you get gouged a bit - nothing new!

 

[maflynn]

For owners of 2018 MPB 13/16/512 which CPU did you go for and why?

Its not what do other people use it for, its about configuring a machine that meets your needs. What is its intended usage?

 

[SSD-GUY]

Are there any benchmarks which show that the i5 has better battery life than the i7 for the 13"?

 

[frou]

Are there any benchmarks which show that the i5 has better battery life than the i7 for the 13"?

Depending on usage patterns, it's not inconceivable that it could be the other way round, because the i7s are the top "binned" silicon that can get by with slightly less voltage.

 

[Patcell]

Depending on usage patterns, it's not inconceivable that it could be the other way round, because the i7s are the top "binned" silicon that can get by with slightly less voltage.

This is true. Essentially, the difference between all tiers of CPU's in a given generation is the faster ones are "binned" as being of higher quality. When you boil it down, basically it means that the higher binned CPU (the i7 in this case) is capable of running at a higher clock speed while remaining in the same TDP. In theory, this should have no impact on heat generation because the TDP remains the same.

Taking this a step further, as the previous poster mentioned, it is possible that the i7 may indeed run cooler and use less power because it is of higher quality. At the very least, the i5 and i7 should have no difference in heat generation or battery life. This is my understanding after a discussion with a CPU designer.

That being said, I personally don't think the difference between the i5 and i7 in the 13" model is worth the upgrade price.

 

[frou]

Though it's still up to Intel where they set the turbo notches at. I mean, maybe the i7 while at 3.9 GHz uses less power than the i5 while at 3.8 GHz, but it's certainly not using less power when it's all the way at 4.5 GHz!

 

[cman-uk]

Its not what do other people use it for, its about configuring a machine that meets your needs. What is its intended usage?

To your question:

Fundamentals: media heavy web browsing, word processing, Excel, etc.
Hobby: Lightroom, Photoshop, iMovie and Premiere Pro - for 4k editing but I stress for hobby videos as opposed to professional needs

To your initial comment:

I took the approach of getting the best spec you can afford. I was set on 16Gb 512Gb (my previous MBP was specced to 8Gb and 256Gb so knew both RAM and SSD needed to increase based on prior usage and future proofing), and decided I could stretch to the i7 - again for purposes of 'future proofing'.

 

[Codeseven]

Not to hijack cman-uk’s thread, but this is a timely topic for me too, that is, 13” MBP i5 vs i7. In my case I’m helping a friend prepare for university in the UK. She is studying Archetectural Design. Notes for that coarse suggest a computer with at least 16Gb memory, 500+ HD and a ‘fast’ processor. Software used are Adobe Creative Suite, Vectorworks and Rhino. Her professor says he personally prefers Macs but she will get more bang for her buck with a PC (also, I think those computer programs are all PC based? Though, she could of coarse use BootCamp).

I prefer she get a Mac. The 13” MBP has been suggested as a great option, 16Gb memory, 512 SSD for sure. My concern, as with cman-uk’s, is i5 or i7?

 

[Marketh]

From everything I’ve read and seen, the i7 doesn’t offer enough extra performance to justify the increased cost. Saying that, at the end of the day it will be a improvement (however slight). If money is no object or you really feel you will benefit from the slight increase in clock speed, then go for it. However I imagine for most uses the i5 is mighty fast enough. Just my two cents!

 

[macnmac]

with student discount, the upgrade is $230... makes it sting a bit less...

 

[jerryk]

The i7 has a couple of negatives in past MBPs (2017 and previous).

First, the increase in performance is modest given the increase in prices.
Second, the increase in heat generation caused throttling. And this has occured not just in MBPs

I have no idea if the throttling is true for the current batch of processors, but the gains are still modest on benchmarks. So, if I were getting an 13", would lean toward the i5.

 

[justinf77]

The performance difference between the two is negligible... If you rely that much on raw computing power, you're better off with a 15" hex-core in my opinion. The vast majority won't notice any difference between the i5 and i7 in terms of performance.

Also, the i5 typically runs cooler and has better battery life than the i7. That's why Apple uses the i5 for battery life marketing numbers, and the i7 for performance marketing numbers. Even here though, the difference is small, but 20 minutes of extra battery life is more useful to me than the rare occasion I may benefit from a few seconds saved on a task with the i7.

 

[cman-uk]

Interestingly most of the replies so far are pro i5 and yet the poll currently shows 42% in favour of i7 - not an insignificant portion.

Let's hear from the i7 crew...

 

[vtgeek]

2018 13inch, i7 16GB 1TB here.

I totally agree with the core i5,16GB RAM, 512GB SSD of being the sweet spot for the 13 inch product line.

For me, fixing other peoples computers, virtual machines I would have ordered that machine except with a 1TB SSD. However my local apple store had the configuration in stock with the i7. Call the i7 the impulse part of my purchase. The price to get it now coupled with a processor upgrade....

I don't think their is a wrong move with the current product line of Touch Bar MacBook Pro's from a performance point of view. It is the first machine out of probably 20 I've bought AppleCare for..

 

[Wags]

I sometimes think the 512 ssd is not a cost effective upgrade because still probably not enough memory. If going to need or use external storage that is much better value. Personal preference of course.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

Let's hear from the i7 crew...

Well, others may feel differently of course, but I prioritize graphics performance, and the best GPU is in the i7, so there you go. Also as someone mentioned, i7 gets the full L2 cache; in the past, the GPU could use the CPU L2 as a buffer to cut down on external memory traffic (which is slow in a laptop), but these days there might be more room on the die for dedicated graphics cache memory, plus it has the 128MB Crystalwell eDRAM chip as well, so maybe leeching off of the CPU L2 is not necessary anymore.

I'm curious to finally see how stuff runs on modern integrated graphics. The sandy bridge iGPU in my current MBP relies only on its main DRAM, which is slow by today's standard at 1333MT, so graphics performance was very lacklustre at non-retina 1280*800-something pixels. That's low rez today, iphones have more pixels these days for chrissakes, and it was terribly slow by and large. When the computer was relatively new I could actually play WoW on it if I knocked down the settings; I remember doing daily quests in Deepholme during the Cataclysm era on my laptop, sitting in a café using my tethered phone's internet connection, but as the years passed and the game became more demanding, performance plummeted. Now WoW doesn't even start anymore. "Your graphics card is not supported", it says. Well, thanks, Obama! lol

So I hope I'll get mine today actually, since it's been more than two weeks now since I ordered, and I was told "1-2 weeks". But I'm not holding my breath, because I'm never that lucky. So...meh. lol

 

[upandown]

Interestingly most of the replies so far are pro i5 and yet the poll currently shows 42% in favour of i7 - not an insignificant portion.

Let's hear from the i7 crew...

I'm loving my i7. It's extremely fast and snappy, and runs cool. My fans hardly ever run with light tasks such as web browsing. (0RPM) CPU proximity temps are anywhere from 28-38 on average. And battery life has been great to what I would expect depending on what I'm doing. I've noticed with 2-3 clicks below 100% brightness the battery life doesn't plummet. I think their screens have been improved in the efficiency department since 2012.

I'm not saying the i5 wouldn't be similar or the same. But I have no regrets and no issues so far with the i7.

 

[tonyz123456]

I got the i5, 16gb (this was definitely worth it as I am running at about 10gb of memory used on a regular basis), and 512gb SSD. I considered the i7 version especially the in-store version since it was available sooner but felt that buying the blackmagic eGPU for the same amount of money as going to i7, 16gb and 1TB (the store config) was a better use of funds and can give me more of a performance boost on many of the apps listed above vs. a CPU upgrade and more storage.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Not to hijack cman-uk’s thread, but this is a timely topic for me too, that is, 13” MBP i5 vs i7. In my case I’m helping a friend prepare for university in the UK. She is studying Archetectural Design. Notes for that coarse suggest a computer with at least 16Gb memory, 500+ HD and a ‘fast’ processor. Software used are Adobe Creative Suite, Vectorworks and Rhino. Her professor says he personally prefers Macs but she will get more bang for her buck with a PC (also, I think those computer programs are all PC based? Though, she could of coarse use BootCamp).

I prefer she get a Mac. The 13” MBP has been suggested as a great option, 16Gb memory, 512 SSD for sure. My concern, as with cman-uk’s, is i5 or i7?

The software mentioned are on MacOS. However I'd be very surprised to hear they're studying Architecture and not using AutoCAD and 3DS MAX - these are industry standards more or less, same as PhotoShop etc. They'd be better off with a Windows PC and use Autodesk software, it would set them up better in the workplace as everyone requires you to have some understanding of AutoCAD/3DS MAX, they'd probably be fine with having knowledge of Vectorworks but only very small independent firms would be using this. Just for thought anyway, but you're best learning software you will actually use in the professional world after the course.

Otherwise you want a decent CPU, you don't need the best thing available - it is only a university course, not exactly modeling a skyscraper. GPU is fine to get mediocre one. Personally I'd advise a similar setup as 16GB RAM/SSD is whatever you want, 256GB is fine, 512GB is better, and at least an i5 processor.

Buying a Mac is an extreme luxury, especially if they're considering putting Windows straight onto it. You're paying a lot of money for features you aren't using. And university is not cheap, that money is far better spent elsewhere.

Also as a point, any university studio worth its salt will have a computer studio full of PCs set up to run this software, after university, they will have little need for that laptop as whatever company they work for will provide a PC (You will very rarely see a Mac in that world). So I would strongly suggest, unless rich, to just get a 'decent' windows laptop, anything around £1200 will be more than ample, and they'll be fine. Otherwise you'll need the 15", and with basic upgrades + AC you're looking at closer to £3000. For something that will be a paperweight at the end of the course, and be marginally useful during the course.

Good luck!

 

[frou]

I'm curious to finally see how stuff runs on modern integrated graphics.

I have a perhaps irrational love for good integrated graphics. The general concept System-On-A-Chip/Package is just too cool.

Check it out, there's the EDRAM butted up against the CPU/GPU, and the Northbridge (aka PCH) right there on the same package too.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

Check it out, there's the EDRAM butted up against the CPU/GPU, and the Northbridge (aka PCH) right there on the same package too.

It IS a very neat, compact design, isn't it? All major components covered by the cooler, which needs to deal with heat coming from only one central location, so can thus spread evenly to each side. It looks damn pretty to my eyes at least!

By the way - look at the underside of the heatpipe. Notice those circles of bare copper on it, with what appears to be (black; because of Apple obsessing about color coordinating components on their circuit boards) heat-transfer pads attached? There's corresponding circles of golden circuit board underneath the pads; I wonder if that's the location of voltage regulator FETs on the underside of the board. I checked out the iFixit teardown, but don't recall such details. If so, then there actually is active cooling of the VRM in at least the 13" MBP, even though heat has to transfer through the circuit board first before hitting the cooler. (Circuit board should be loaded with copper traces at these locations though, and FETs typically don't dissipate that much heat unless stressed to the bleeding edge - so a few watts apiece most likely.)

Edit:
Having looked at the original iFixit image, the "thermal pads" actually look more like electrically conductive EMI-insulating pads, so boom, there goes my pet theory, lol! So they'd be there to prevent the cooler from acting as an antenna slash some sort of resonant source of interference, causing interference with the digital radios in the system and whatnot. Not to actually cool any components on the PCB...

 

[buran-energia]

I'm waiting (11 days and counting) for my 2018 MPB 13/16/512 i7 to arrive and in the meantime have made the following observations on MR:

13/16/512 is considered the 'sweet spot' but many have gone with the i5 CPU rather than i7. Why is this? I've seen comments alluding to "don't expect much more by going for the i7".

For owners of 2018 MPB 13/16/512 which CPU did you go for and why?

What I don't like about laptops is heat, high cpu temperatures and fan noise. I couldn't find any recent tests, but I'm willing to bet that an i7 under load, even though they have the same TDP, will make the laptop warmer and consume more battery life. So, I'd go with i5.

 

[maflynn]

laptops is heat, high cpu temperatures and fan noise

I agree on both counts, I owned a Razer 15" laptop and the temps were a bit better then on my MBP, but the fans were much more noticeable. I hated that, I tried all sorts of things, and I was somewhat successful in reducing the sound, but at the cost of increased heat.

I have my 15" MBP configured, so its much more quieter and the heat isn't as bad for much of my tasks.