Consistency of Processors

[AppleGoat]

Will two MacBook Pros with the same processor feel commensurately snappy, or can one feel a touch quicker? Merely wondering if all i5s and i7s were created equal when it comes to system performance.

 

[Intell]

No two CPUs are exactly alike in terms of speed. But the difference is so, so small the end user wouldn't know any difference.

 

[paulrbeers]

I think you need to be more specific. There are two generations of i5's and i7's. You can't compare ghz to ghz if you are comparing the different generations. Within the same generation then yes ghz for ghz comparison is pretty accurate. How much you will notice a difference in speed on a daily basis doing "normal" tasks is questionable considering how fast even the "entry level" Sandy Bridge is.

 

[Hellhammer]

In general usage, it doesn't really matter what CPU you have because it is not the bottleneck. A MacBook Air with slow C2D CPU and SSD feels A LOT faster than the 12-core Mac Pro with a regular HD. In CPU intensive tasks such as video encoding for instance, the difference in CPU performance is noticeable.

 

[AppleGoat]

Sorry if I was not clear -- what I meant to say was that if you took two i5s, same processor model and everything, could one be faster than the other? The first responder, Intell, answered my question that the speed difference would not be discernible.

 

[Hellhammer]

Sorry if I was not clear -- what I meant to say was that if you took two i5s, same processor model and everything, could one be faster than the other? The first responder, Intell, answered my question that the speed difference would not be discernible.

Assuming that neither of the chips is defective, there shouldn't be any noticeable difference.

 

[AppleGoat]

Assuming that neither of the chips is defective, there shouldn't be any noticeable difference.

Do you think synthetic benchmarks are a sufficient barometer of performance?

 

[Hellhammer]

Do you think synthetic benchmarks are a sufficient barometer of performance?

If we are comparing two exactly the same CPUs and the task is to find do they perform the same, then yes. However, the tests have to be performed in similar conditions (same room temperatures, same tasks running etc).

 

[AppleGoat]

If we are comparing two exactly the same CPUs and the task is to find do they perform the same, then yes. However, the tests have to be performed in similar conditions (same room temperatures, same tasks running etc).

Well, I've had to i5s and the benchmarks are about to the same, but the past one felt snappier, maybe it's just me. I know for fact it launched certains apps faster. From a fresh boot, dashboard seems to launch faster too - may just be me.

 

[Hellhammer]

Well, I've had to i5s and the benchmarks are about to the same, but the past one felt snappier, maybe it's just me. I know for fact it launched certains apps faster. From a fresh boot, dashboard seems to launch faster too - may just be me.

Things like that are dependent on the hard drive. Maybe the other one had a different HD which was faster.

 

[derbothaus]

Did you do the tests on the same exact OS and HD? Like an external boot. That would be the only way to test them as close as possible.

 

[AppleGoat]

Did you do the tests on the same exact OS and HD? Like an external boot. That would be the only way to test them as close as possible.

No, I did not. Yeah, I feel it is hard drive-dependent, yet I thought the quicker processor had something to do with old i5 launching apps faster than my Core2Duo. This new i5 feels in no ways faster in general use than the C2D.

 

[Hellhammer]

This new i5 feels in no ways faster in general use than the C2D.

That's because the CPU isn't the bottleneck like I said earlier. Drop an SSD in it and it will feel like a difference machine