The way I see it, owning the i7 means you are *more likely* to see better performance, but not that it *guarantees* better performance. Enjoy!
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2020 i7 MBPro 1068NG7 benchmarks
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Incredible! I wonder what the difference is? Just a better CPU sample? Or better applied thermal paste?
That’s a lot of manufacturing variability. That’s like seeing some regular 3 series that are as fast as M3‘s from the factory. The gap should be bigger when you’re paying for the extra performance.
I was surprised, but I think there are so many factors. Maxtech on you tube in some of his videos performed Cinebench R20 on the new MacBook. the scores varied massively between mid 1600's all the way to around 1900. I'm not technical, but I'm sure there is something going on due to background activity and how the CPU decides how it wants to boost etc etc
Never look a gift i7 in the mouth!
It is rather like a sports car or any top "performance" item though: value and performance don't scale linearly. You pay more for that extra 5%. Except with the i7 you only pay 10% more; some sports cars, you pay a lot more than that . . .
It’s an extra $200 for a roughly 10% faster average CPU. It is roughly as big a CPU jump as from the 8th gen to the 10th gen (also $200 with equal RAM and storage, though it brings a better GPU, better speaker, and more ports).
The sad thing is that 10% rapidly disappears when the CPU is being used at 100% which is what many of us who are paying the extra money for performance are expecting. At least the MBA i7 upgrade showed a 6-7% difference in Cinebench R20 vs the i5 variant.
So far, I've run Cinebench R20 multiple times and I'm scoring in the mid 1900's which is what many i5's are hitting. CPU utilization is less than 3% at idle before starting test.
What I would like are real world tests such as running PS filters and RAW file editing/exports, but I don't have an i5 machine to compare to as I would likely do it as I compared my MBP to the MBA that I returned.
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When pushed to the limit, there actually isn’t that much difference between the 8th gen i5, 10th gen i5 and 10th gen i7. Ice Lake emphasizes the GPU. Comet Lake offers better CPU performance (higher clock speeds, some 6-core options), but with a step backward on the GPU (UHD 620).
Are you sure this “isn’t that much of a difference?” I’m pretty sure there should be some difference, for example in sustained performance. Or have we found out that there isn’t much of a difference?
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What I’m more concerned about in my situation is the speed with which I can browse RAW files and edit them, because that’s where I spend time. I don’t spend any time waiting for the files to render, so for me I don’t mind if it’s a bit slower.
I can run tests on my i7 when I get it in a few weeks. I don’t have an i5 to compare it to though.
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I wouldn’t say many i5’s are hitting mid 1900. More like low 1900s And high 1800’s appear to be the range with some exceptions. Just not enough data points at the moment.
In fairness, given that the case and cooling is identical, I'd expect to see more of a difference between i5 and i7 in single-threaded tasks (than in multi-threaded tasks) that can make use of the +0.3 Ghz turbo .
When maxing out all cores and constrained by cooling considerations, I suspect that the wattage usage of an i5 vs an i7 (at the same Ghz) is roughly similar = same performance.
The fact that Geekbench shows both higher single-core and multi-core scores for the i7 is likely due to neither workload really pushing the thermal constraints of the system in the way that Cinebench does. Thus Geekbench is more able to show the effects of 10% clock-speed advantage of the i7.
In any case, I think that it still remains the case that if you want a better performing machine, you are better off choosing the i7. It won't guarantee better performance, but it will make better performance more likely. If you don't care so much, grab an i5. For most tasks it will probably be indistinguishable.
So you’re basically saying that when it’s thermally throttled, we seem to see very similar performance between both CPUs (apart from single-threaded tasks). And when we aren’t thermally throttled, we get a slightly higher turbo clock speed.
I’m not sure if that analysis is correct, but that seems to be to be the case.
Honestly, I would only go for the i7 if you are worried about longevity, and even then I’d say it doesn’t make a big difference. If you’re rich and don’t care about the money, go for it, you probably don’t need to think about it. If you’re trying to be very economical, I’d say think twice before getting the i7 over the i5 and consider it if it’s worth it for you.
There’s also the factor that the resale value may not be $200 higher if you get the i7. That’s just my assumption. So, if you’re considering switching to the 14” MacBook when it comes out (and it likely will, according to those reliable leakers), definitely go with the i5 because you don’t really care about longevity if you’re thinking of replacing it soon.
At least that’s my take on it. I’m going to try to convince the family member gifting it to go from i7/32 to i5/16. I don’t edit videos or run multiple VMs simultaneously. A $600 increase is really not worth it for me. Honestly, I don’t want to be too consumerist here!
Anyway, that’s my take on it.
If only resale would recuperate even close to 50% of what you paid for the upgrade it would be a Godsend. The only times an upgraded spec has a made a big difference in price is when a popular model is discontinued or Apple's replacement is not well received. When the non upgradeable Mac mini came out that followed the excellent 2012 Mac Mini series, the quad core mini's kept a much higher markup than the dual core as the replacement mini's were all dual core only. They also had soldered ram chips.
Otherwise try going to websites that pay cash for your mac (hint hint) and you will see a very small increase in value as you add your options for the mac you're trying to sell. In other words, base models almost always have the best resale value.
Yes, exactly!!! That’s what I wanted was trying to say, albeit not as eloquently. This is even true on sites like Swappa. And you’re right, it would only be worth something if the next generation of MacBooks was a flop—but I’m pretty confident there won’t be any significant controversial design update with the next MacBooks. The 2020 most likely won’t be a repeat of the 2015. I really don’t think i7/32GB is worth it for these reasons, especially because I definitely might want a 14 inch screen/dGPU into the future and so want to retain the resale value.
I am happy to announce that with all these considerations, I will be canceling the order for the i7, and go with the i5/16GB instead. I’m pretty sure that the internal SSD speed of 3GB/s will be acceptable for swap RAM performance. In any case, I’m upgrading from a retina 2012, and I highly doubt that I will notice any difference between i5/16 and i7/32.
I thank all of you for helping me make this decision, giving me peace of mind that I’ll be happy with the machine even if I get the base spec, and saving my dad $600
Oh, @magbarn, what was your reason for getting a i7/32? Just wanted the guaranteed extra performance without worrying about variability? What‘s your use case, may I ask? Wondering what you would need the 32GB for.
Maybe I’m having those tiny tinges of remorse after canceling that beast of an order, but I think it’ll be okay, haha.
Maybe I’m having those tiny tinges of remorse after canceling that beast of an order, but I think it’ll be okay, haha.
I’m ordering the i7. It’s $250 more on a $3550 laptop (i5/32/1TB). If I’m getting the 32GB why not spend the extra $250 I guess. Something about i5 32GB doesn’t sit right haha. FYI using lots of apps, browser tabs in dynamics and VMs. I use 25GB easily every day.
I just did it as it was shipping 3 weeks faster
Honestly, I did it because I wanted the closest performance I can get to my mbp 16 while on the road. The 2020 mba i7 didn’t cut it.
Regarding resale value, I’ve always been of the view that the base models retain a larger percentage of their initial cost. 3 years from now, no one will care whether it is a 10th gen i5 or i7. Since we’ll be on the 12th gen, or perhaps even on ARM, all that will matter is that it is an “old” chip. There are some exceptions. I think the i5 is a worthy $100 upgrade to the base MacBook Air. But by and large, get the configuration that works for you today. If you know your needs are going to change soon (e.g. you know you will be taking on projects that require more RAM or CPU speed), then buy for those needs.
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Yes, when I ordered the i7 Air, it was primarily because that particular configuration shipped a little faster, and the extra $141 (with my corporate discount) didn’t matter to me that much. That said, I’m happy that the Ice Lake MacBook Pro came out during the return period for the MBA, since I like it better (except I’ll miss the gold color of the MBA, since it stands out but isn’t gaudy). With my same corporate discount, the Ice Lake i5 MBP was only another $141 more than the i7 Air with 16/512GB, and has: a faster CPU, 4 ports (and on both sides), a wider gamut screen, better speakers, and doesn’t weigh much more.
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Fair enough, I can see that. That’s interesting though, any config apart from the base config for me was delayed a few weeks.
Thank you! I definitely tend to agree with that sentiment as well. Since I might want to get the 14 inch later I’ll try to minimize my costs for now. I would have waited but really can’t wait another year.
That’s true, i5 32 sounds a bit odd, haha. That’s interesting; I never went above 16GB (8GB RAM + 8GB swap) on my 2012 retina.
The way I justified getting less RAM is: the new MacBooks have write speeds of 3GB/s. LPDDR3 RAM (the one on my current MacBook) supposedly has a RW speed of ~12GB/s. So I‘m assuming for my needs the swapping onto the internal SSD will be sufficient to expand my RAM (in comparison, my Mac writes about 250MB/s on my internal SSD, which is literally 12x slower). Not sure how well my analysis holds up, but I‘m assuming that I won‘t notice a huge difference between 16 and 32.
Of course go for the 32GB if you need it, I‘m just saying this to save a buck
Thank you! I definitely tend to agree with that sentiment as well. Since I might want to get the 14 inch later I’ll try to minimize my costs for now. I would have waited but really can’t wait another year.
The way I justified getting less RAM is: the new MacBooks have write speeds of 3GB/s. LPDDR3 RAM (the one on my current MacBook) supposedly has a RW speed of ~12GB/s. So I‘m assuming for my needs the swapping onto the internal SSD will be sufficient to expand my RAM (in comparison, my Mac writes about 250MB/s on my internal SSD, which is literally 12x slower). Not sure how well my analysis holds up, but I‘m assuming that I won‘t notice a huge difference between 16 and 32.
Of course go for the 32GB if you need it, I‘m just saying this to save a buck
I’m still looking forward for a return to the 12” MacBook.
I agree with you on the SSDs, though my speeds on the 512GB model are closer to 2.3GB/s. Even so (still pretty speedy), paging to disk isn’t quite the penalty it was back in the HDD days, or even the early days of the SSD. Unless you know you WILL need 32 GB (e.g. you must run multiple VMs at the same time), then 32GB is likely unnecessary, and if so, then likely the 16” MacBook Pro is a better option since it has more CPU power, as well.
It may be only at launch or in the US but Apple Usually reserves a high end BTO option for everything they sell. It’s called the ultimate configuration and most Apple stores will stock. I knew to look for it when the mbp 13 sales went live by playing with the configurations until I found a BTO that had the same ship date as the base configurations. It was the 7/32/2TB. I honestly would’ve preferred 1tb as the price Apple charged for the additional 1tb is just crazy but I was impatient.
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My wife’s MBA i5/8/512 just came in in gold and it is stunning. We both love it. It actually has a rose gold hue to it when compared to her previous gold mb12 which is much more yellow.
Exactly. It is closer to true rose gold. My “rose gold” 12” MacBook (2017) is basically metallic pink. The “gold” 2018 12” MacBook and “gold” MacBook Air are better looking, IMO.
Makes sense about the high-end stock. That‘s the only config I hadn‘t checked. I hope in the future I can have enough to buy the highest end without thinking twice haha... hopefully after I get my degree I can dream of these things.
I‘m quite excited to see what the paging is like! Although I won‘t suspect that I‘ll need it often, given that I don‘t run VMs in general.
Should arrive around May 29-June 3 once it‘s ordered. After that I can put it through the tests and see what the results say