core 2 duo or i5

[smitty8202]

I have had my eye on the 15" MBP's in the refurb store and I was wondering should I buy the MBP with the i5 or hold out till the core 2 duo comes back to the refurb store. What is the difference and does it make a noticable difference with which one you get?

 

[Hellhammer]

Depends what you are going to use it for. i5 is definitely better but if C2D is much cheaper, then it might be adequate for your usage.

 

[NickZac]

What do you do/want to do with it?

 

[smitty8202]

Mainly internet music watch movies college classes and eventually mac/iphone application development. Just wanna know the difference. Money isn't a issue just want to get the most bang for my buck

 

[Hellhammer]

Mainly internet music watch movies college classes and eventually mac/iphone application development. Just wanna know the difference. Money isn't a issue just want to get the most bang for my buck

How much is the price difference then? If you have the $, then I would just go with the i5

 

[richard.mac]

core i5 is a newer architecture and so is a little faster than a core 2 duo at the same speed. i5 also has 2 extra threads (virtual cores) and so would out perform the core 2 duo in tasks that use those threads.

 

[dusk007]

For the things you mentioned CPU speed is really not that important. Even development works great on outdated hardware in most cases.
My advice is to base your decision on the screen size. I wouldn't want to work with a 13" screen and its meager res (development really is nicer with high res). Many other people wouldn't want to carry around a 15" MBP.

Also just wait for the refresh. Sandy Bridge will change performance by a significant margin especially for the 13" and it is possible the whole sizes change too with a new line of 16:9 notebooks .

 

[NickZac]

You probably won't see much a difference. If you aren't strapped for cash, get the i5. If you are, get the C2D.

 

[tasslehawf]

I have the first generation unibody C2D 2.53 (Late 2008). I'm doing app development and it's more than sufficient - I only wish I had one of the later MBP's so I could have full access to 8gb of RAM.