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Beware: the Core i7 is probably not worth it this time
- Thread starter Nuak
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I've been flip-flopping. Ordered the 15 i7 w/ anti-glare screen yesterday, then canceled and slept on it. Reordered today but w/ the 2.4Ghz i5. No bragging rights for me, but also $300 extra in my pocket, and only a slightly slower machine -- and hopeful more than a bit faster than my late '08 2.4Ghz. If it doesn't work out I'll upgrade to the i7 next year.
I am going to order
i5 15" 2.4 with antiglare and upgraded 500GB 7200RPM HDD.
1799 150 150 2099 <-- $100 less and esentually same system
1999 150 50 2199
I'm in a similar position, and I'm probably going with the i7, not for the processor but for the GPU (for ****'s sake, my 5 year old computer has 256MB of VRAM, and it's often barely enough to work with large graphics even with CS3 which doesn't use the GPU nearly as much as CS4 and CS5 do).
I'll upgrade the memory in a year or so, after prices have dropped a bit; you can also upgrade the hard drive later if you can't afford the 7200 with the i7. You can't upgrade the CPU or GPU.
Actually half-considering the 17" i5, since the CPU performance is so close and with the hi-res display the prices are identical.
Id be interested in an answer to this as well - 15 inch i5 with more ram and maybe SSD or 15 inch i7 with less ram and HDD?
All I can tell you is that a 1st gen 2.66GHz 4-core Mac Pro desktop gets a benchmark of 5500-5800 and this 2.66GHz i7 17" mbp gets a benchmark of 6200. 
Definitely feel the HUGE difference from the previous gen mbp. I know I've said this a few times in other threads but FINALLY a TRUE desktop replacement notebook from Apple!
I absolutely LOVE the auto gpu switching. I dont have to log out and relaunch all my apps in the spaces anymore. I've been on campus (typing from there right now) for the last 3 hours and the battery life is still showing 7 hour and 36 minutes! I saw battery life go as high as 11 hours and 20 minutes. Its crazy how fast these new i7 mbps are while getting a battery life similar to ultraportable notebooks!
Definitely feel the HUGE difference from the previous gen mbp. I know I've said this a few times in other threads but FINALLY a TRUE desktop replacement notebook from Apple!
I absolutely LOVE the auto gpu switching. I dont have to log out and relaunch all my apps in the spaces anymore. I've been on campus (typing from there right now) for the last 3 hours and the battery life is still showing 7 hour and 36 minutes! I saw battery life go as high as 11 hours and 20 minutes. Its crazy how fast these new i7 mbps are while getting a battery life similar to ultraportable notebooks!
Sold
I think you just sold me on the i7 with that simple comment. Nobody seems to respond to my earlier q but after rethinking this, I am now leaning towards the i7 with 4gb ram and 5000 gb ata @ 7200 rpm
Only thing that pisses me off is that simple $50 upgrade for the 7200 rpm means I MUST order online! BOOO for more waiting
I think you just sold me on the i7 with that simple comment. Nobody seems to respond to my earlier q but after rethinking this, I am now leaning towards the i7 with 4gb ram and 5000 gb ata @ 7200 rpm
Only thing that pisses me off is that simple $50 upgrade for the 7200 rpm means I MUST order online! BOOO for more waiting
All I can tell you is that a 1st gen 2.66GHz 4-core Mac Pro desktop gets a benchmark of 5500-5800 and this 2.66GHz i7 17" mbp gets a benchmark of 6200.
Definitely feel the HUGE difference from the previous gen mbp. I know I've said this a few times in other threads but FINALLY a TRUE desktop replacement notebook from Apple!
I absolutely LOVE the auto gpu switching. I dont have to log out and relaunch all my apps in the spaces anymore. I've been on campus (typing from there right now) for the last 3 hours and the battery life is still showing 7 hour and 36 minutes! I saw battery life go as high as 11 hours and 20 minutes. Its crazy how fast these new i7 mbps are while getting a battery life similar to ultraportable notebooks!
Why not buy in store, buy HDD and swap yourself? Warranty stays intact and everything.
You might want to stick w/ the stock drive and upgrade yourself. You can get a 500GB 7200RPM drive for $91 shipped from Newegg. Put the OEM drive in cheap external enclosure for backups or non-essential files.
All I can tell you is that a 1st gen 2.66GHz 4-core Mac Pro desktop gets a benchmark of 5500-5800 and this 2.66GHz i7 17" mbp gets a benchmark of 6200.
Really? Because the guys over at ubergizmo were only able to pull a score of 5412 on their new 15" i7 2.67 GHz. Would you mind posting up a screenshot?
ubergizmo said:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2010/04/new-macbook-pro-core-i7.html
In this test, the difference in power consumption doesn't look as extreme as in the chart posted earlier:
- http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Intel-Core-i3-i5-i7-Prozessoren-Arrandale.25078.0.html
Like many mentionened in this thread, there's not a big performace benefit either according to the test. But at least it doesn't look like the i7-620M will suck up all your battery life.
- http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Intel-Core-i3-i5-i7-Prozessoren-Arrandale.25078.0.html
Like many mentionened in this thread, there's not a big performace benefit either according to the test. But at least it doesn't look like the i7-620M will suck up all your battery life.
just to get this straight: all CPU's have hyperthreading (4 virtual cores) including the i5-520M?
I want the 15" because of the high res anti-glare screen. i can't care less about the vram and the cpu speed difference seems to be >10% from the i5-520M to the i7 for most tasks. Correct?
in that case I get the 15"MBP with high res anti glare for US$ 1949
2.4GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen
Backlit Keyboard (English)
a 7200rpm HDD will follow. or a ssd if prices come down.
I want the 15" because of the high res anti-glare screen. i can't care less about the vram and the cpu speed difference seems to be >10% from the i5-520M to the i7 for most tasks. Correct?
in that case I get the 15"MBP with high res anti glare for US$ 1949
2.4GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Antiglare Widescreen
Backlit Keyboard (English)
a 7200rpm HDD will follow. or a ssd if prices come down.
for sure getting hi res screen
they do sell that in stores. But If I want the bump to 7200 rpm, I have to order online. Thats what I was told over the phone at least
they do sell that in stores. But If I want the bump to 7200 rpm, I have to order online. Thats what I was told over the phone at least
5200-5400 is consistent with what I've gotten on the 32 bit geekbench. I think the 6200 numbers are running the 64 bit version - see for example this result: http://browse.geekbench.ca/geekbench2/view/238224
Wow, that's interesting. Could anyone address why this chart shows only minor difference in the power consumption compared to the chart in the thread starter's post?
In this test, the difference in power consumption doesn't look as extreme as in the chart posted earlier:
- http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Intel-Core-i3-i5-i7-Prozessoren-Arrandale.25078.0.html
I'm telling you guys, these i7 macbook pros feels like a 4 core mac pro. When you start using these machine it WILL NOT feel like a laptop anymore. It is that rock solid in performance.
I havnt felt this kind of speed boost since the powerbook G4's were moved to intel core duos. I'm still shocked using it as a desktop right now, I keep thinking my 24" is connected to a mac pro desktop lol. Its so awesome!
It's an architecture change just like that last major one.
Turbo Boost does play rather heavily into the perkiness.
I'd say it's just plain experimental error on the tester's part. Just look at the idle min numbers, which for Intel's latest processors means they throttle down to <1Ghz and 1 of the cores turns off, essentially drawing no power. The numbers are (from right to left) 18.1, 19.3, 16.6, 17.6, 26.5 W. So apparently the lowest clocked i5 draws 3W more at idle than the next highest? The i7 magically wastes 10W doing nothing? There are lots of things in the computer that draw power, and it's more than likely the reviewer didn't have a good handle on all of them- screen brightness, HDD access, wireless, etc.
For a true comparison, we need the guys at Tom's hardware do for the i5/i7 what they did for some of the desktop processors recently. They seem more competent than notebookcheck.net, in light of these crappy charts. What notebook users really should be interested in is total power consumed, in watt-hours, for a given task. A processor can run 5% hotter but if it gets done 5% faster, the net effect on battery life is a wash.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i5-overclocking,2541.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-980x-efficiency,2575.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-980x-efficiency,2590.html
Looks like the differences in the 5xxx scores and the 6xxx scores is due to which version was run -- 32bit or 64bit version, respectively.
Link to all i5 and i7 scores