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Beware: the Core i7 is probably not worth it this time

vasuba said:
The extra cache is a big part of why the i7 has the extra performance. Generally around most review sites its deemed the extra cost to get the
i7-620M is not worth it for the minimal performance increase. That 200 dollars it costs can be used for other things or even upgrades in Ram,HDD etc
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Yeah but the point is, you can easily upgrade RAM and HDD after you have bought the computer. You can't easily upgrade the processor, though. Hence the reasoning is to get the best you can at the start.
 
steveLONDON said:
Yeah but the point is, you can easily upgrade RAM and HDD after you have bought the computer. You can't easily upgrade the processor, though. Hence the reasoning is to get the best you can at the start.
Click to expand...

Will be easier to sell down the line too, if that's impt to you.
 
vasuba said:
i7 CPUs offer roughly a 5% performance boost over i5. That 5% makes the i7 obviously the fastest but the actual difference is very minimal. It really comes down to does a 5% boost equal $200 in your eyes.
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The extra money is primarily for the 512M GPU. If you plan on doing much gaming on it, you should pay the extra $200. Otherwise, the 15" i5 should be good.
 
Photoshop users will want the 512MB VRAM, especially when working with large images...

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405745.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2804

Likely Final Cut users will want more VRAM too, and anything that uses GPU accelerated features a lot.

If you do any rendering, always go for the fastest processor available, even if its a small bump, it makes a difference.

Everyone else don't have to consider all this and can go for the lesser options. Unless you're considering gaming which is less optimal on a laptop and lesser so on the MBP, where 512MB VRAM again matters depending on the resolution and game (some games want more due to complex textures, and slow down with less VRAM).
 
in CPU terms, it means that the memory controller and graphics can be imbedded into the CPU, not sewn in but built into the chip die itself rather than being "sewn" in to the motherboard.
 
MrSingh said:
hi,

this wil be my first MBP or portable Mac of any kind. i currently use a Mac Pro for serious work and a Dell mini 10v hackintosh for browsing, skyping, checking mail and sometimes dumping images to when on location via Lightroom.

lately i have realised that i would like to actually edit stuff when mobile - and 10v just won't cut it 🙂. the relatively recent increase in color gamut of MBP screens has finally made me consider MBP's and i like the idea of editing films too however the 17" is just not mobile enough and the new matte, high-res 15" option is very appealing.

My queries:

- Technically speaking, given i will be editing very large 21mp RAW images and editing massive 1080p files in Final Cut, does it make sense for me to go the i7 route with my MBP given the extra VRAM - will this give me a crucial performance bump compared to the i5 option?

- Final Cut Studio 4 will probably be fully 64bit and will very likely allow intensive tasks like editing h.256 footage in real-time. Again, will the i7 route with more VRAM help me here? However perhaps this is a moot point given that only certain video-cards will allow editing h.264 in real time...

- I plan on visiting a store soon to eye what a 15" screen looks like in the flesh with those 33% extra pixels the high-res option will give. However, anyone seen one already? Did you have to squint and did it really give a decent real-estate bump? Could be quite crucial for me given all those panels on Lightroom and Final Cut Pro...and i really don't want to lug-around a 17"

Thanks.
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The Core i7 likely won't make a very noticeable difference. I'd say spend your saved money on a nice SSD (Intel G2 is pretty nice for the money). If you don't use the DVD drive, you can swap it out for the SSD and keep your old HDD, so that you have enough storage as well as a very fast SSD. The SSD upgrade will be much more noticeable than the HDD upgrade, especially if you're working with large 1080p files.
 
17"

It seems that the 17" is good deal, because of the high resolution display and the 512M, its a good price isnt it?
 
danizanon said:
It seems that the 17" is good deal, because of the high resolution display and the 512M, its a good price isnt it?
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I'd say so. It's actually gone down a bit from the last revision.

I just wish Apple offered their 15" i5 with the 512mb gpu.
 
By experience, having a laptop heating too much can be really bad for performances, battery and of course be really annoying.

I think that a MacBook pro with i7 running hotter than a i5 could be less performant, giving the negligeable difference between the two processors.

I see two scenarios :

  • You are using your computer for small tasks : no differences, apart battery being shorter for the i7
  • You are using your computer for serious tasks : the i7 produce more heat and slow down your computer, it also have an impact on the battery. Even if the slow down impact is negligeable, the performace gain with the i7 is also negligeable... It's hard to say how much the i7 will be better, if it is.

I picked the i5 540M. The i7 620M is also a great processor, but even if they were the same price, I would take the i5.
 
Only 2 cores?! Why does apple uses the cheapest Core i7! I always wanted a quad core ManBook Pro
 
17"

Im going to a 17" for sure now, and amzon is selling it for:


Apple MacBook Pro MC024LL/A 17-Inch Laptop by Apple
Buy new: $2,199.99 and no tax

Available for Pre-order
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
Electronics: See all items
Isnt it a good deal??
 
danizanon said:
It seems that the 17" is good deal, because of the high resolution display and the 512M, its a good price isnt it?
Click to expand...

I agree. I picked up the 17" i5 2.53 last night. I was originally set on the 15" i5 2.53 with the hi-res screen. But after doing the math I could upgrade to the 17" which has twice the VRAM and a bigger screen for only $160 more (educational pricing). It's a no brainer if you don't mind the slightly larger footprint. The base 17" is a great deal!!!
 
csnplt said:
The Core i7 likely won't make a very noticeable difference. I'd say spend your saved money on a nice SSD (Intel G2 is pretty nice for the money). If you don't use the DVD drive, you can swap it out for the SSD and keep your old HDD, so that you have enough storage as well as a very fast SSD. The SSD upgrade will be much more noticeable than the HDD upgrade, especially if you're working with large 1080p files.
Click to expand...

You can realy do that? Replace DvD for SSD disk ...... realy? 😱
 
Tomka said:
You can realy do that? Replace DvD for SSD disk ...... realy? 😱
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You can do it - e.g. it is possible to do it - but I wouldn't do it on any machine for which I valued/needed the warranty. I can't see the benefits outweighing the risk of messing it up.
 
question for us non savy users

I use my MBP for adobe suite work (photoshop, illustrator, indesign). This is my career so buying the right laptop for me is very important.

This thread has totally made me change my mind regarding getting the 15 i7 vs the 15 i5. I was all but set in the i7 until I read this.

In laymans terms:

do you think I should get the 15 i7 with 4gb ram, 500gb at 5400 rpm OR 15 i5 8gb ram, 500 gb at 7200rpm?




neteng101 said:
Photoshop users will want the 512MB VRAM, especially when working with large images...

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405745.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2804

Likely Final Cut users will want more VRAM too, and anything that uses GPU accelerated features a lot.

If you do any rendering, always go for the fastest processor available, even if its a small bump, it makes a difference.

Everyone else don't have to consider all this and can go for the lesser options. Unless you're considering gaming which is less optimal on a laptop and lesser so on the MBP, where 512MB VRAM again matters depending on the resolution and game (some games want more due to complex textures, and slow down with less VRAM).
Click to expand...
 
3dmark 05 and 06 are too old as a gaming benchmark. On top of that, it's a single point of testing. Modern games' performance can vary quite a bit between 256MB and 512MB of RAM. I'd advise you to seek out benchmarks for the particular games you are interested in to see how much the RAM will matter.
 
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