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Core i5 or Core i7 for my needs

F

Frogy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 19, 2010
5
0
Hey all,

Im going to be purchasing a MBP 15" before the summer and I am wondering which one to get. I am a film editor and work with HD video in Final Cut and wil do some After Effects (Not so much animation just effects for video footage)

Now I was all set to spend the extra money on a core i7 with the 512mb graphics card.. but then i found the forum about people saying their core i7's freeze so much. I am going to be spending a lot of time editing and if you edit you know you cant have a single minute to wast waiting for your machine to start working again.

Now I think you just have to be lucky and get a core i7 computer that wont freeze, but would it be safer to just go for the core i5 and save the money? will i really need a stronger processor and graphics card for what im doing?

My main concern is about these freezing issues ive read about. If it wasnt for that I would go for the i7 no questions asked

Thanks
 
If the i7's were freezing there would be a lot of new threads from actual users.. I haven't seen any. Where are they? My i7 hasn't froze once and I switch my gpus with gfxcardstatus.
 
Wow that makes me feel a lot better. I found a topic earlier today and it had like 4 pages and there was a link that took me to a thread on apples site about the freezing issue and it had 13 pages of people complaining. Im guessing they all just got unlucky with a bad machine. Hope it doesnt happen to me
 
Been working with my i7 for 3 weeks now and no freezes what so ever. Not even a crash. Stable as a rock.

I would definitely recommend the i7 for what you do... They extra speed equates in more productivity for you.
 
I am doing about the same things you are doing, and I spent my money on the i7 and NO REGRETS. Final Cut and After Effects runs hand n hand smoothly no lag on my part whatsoever. It definitely worth getting the i7. Just make sure you get gfxCardStatus so you don't run off your battery since Apple makes the computer favor the 330m A LOT.

In fact at the moment, I'm running AE, PS, Premiere Pro, Skype, iChat, Adium, Chrome, Firefox, iTunes, Mail, and Pages. NO LAG WHATSOEVER!

Man I love this machine! :)

I'm sure you will too!
 
WTFFFFF ALL THOSE PROGRAMS AND NO LAG??!?!??!

you just got me stokked for the i7 man!

btw what is this gfxCardStatus your talking about?
 
Frogy said:
WTFFFFF ALL THOSE PROGRAMS AND NO LAG??!?!??!

you just got me stokked for the i7 man!

btw what is this gfxCardStatus your talking about?
Click to expand...


No lag whatsoever. Im loving it!

gfxCardStatus, is an open source program that allows you to switch the Graphics card yourself and not have the machine automatically do it, which is known to cause lock ups sometimes. When I'm not using AE and such... I have the Intel HD graphics on, when I am using AE and such I turn on the 330m.

Check it out here:
http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus/
 
For most people asking this question I tell them that they likely won't notice a difference in day to day "speed" between the two and that need to determine if the extra $ is worth it to them. For me I chose the i7 even though for what I do is more RAM dependent and not as CPU dependent, though I doubt I'd see much of a difference if I ended up with the i5. However with you doing video I'd say 100% to go the i7 route. That's where you'd see the difference between the two.

As for stability, I've only rebooted my i7 one time in the couple of weeks I've had it. I only rebooted it because I kept reconfiguring a wireless access point because a win 7 machine kept having issues with the encryption type. After switching it a half dozen times my wireless on my Mac could no longer connect. I rebooted and it magically worked. Other than that one reboot, I've just closed the lid and opened it up and worked wherever I was. I tend to relocate myself throughout the day so I work, it sleeps, I work, it sleeps, etc during the day. Haven't had a single problem and I even have a VMware Fusion vm and 6 spaces full of apps/windows open most of the time when it's put to sleep.

Mike
 
My i7 toting Mac does not freeze *knock on wood*. My encoding times are pretty long in my book; it's takes about 6x longer than my desktop, if you're looking to save precious minutes, maybe consider an iMac or Mac Pro?
 
TxMacAddict said:
If the i7's were freezing there would be a lot of new threads from actual users.. I haven't seen any. Where are they? My i7 hasn't froze once and I switch my gpus with gfxcardstatus.
Click to expand...

Those user reports are actually consolidated into one (or several) i5/i7 freezing thread(s) and not separate threads, thank goodness.

That's the thing, you switch your GPUs manually so you probably won't experience the freeze. It's the 'perfect storm' of the automatic switching and whatever apps the user is running and what the user is doing that causes the unpredictable freezes.


To the OP, get the i7. You might save just minutes but for what you do, those minutes will add up.
 
Thanks guys im impressed with the amount of responses i recieved for this :)

Im getting a macbook instead of a desktop becuse i find myself on the go alot and wish to always have my work with me to work on.

Just one more question about the gfxCardStatus, where do i get it :p

And from a review i saw about the new 2010 lineup, a person mentioned that you can either set the graphics cards to switch automatically or do it manually yourself... is this the gfxCardStatus your talking about?
 
Frogy said:
Thanks guys im impressed with the amount of responses i recieved for this :)

Im getting a macbook instead of a desktop becuse i find myself on the go alot and wish to always have my work with me to work on.

Just one more question about the gfxCardStatus, where do i get it :p

And from a review i saw about the new 2010 lineup, a person mentioned that you can either set the graphics cards to switch automatically or do it manually yourself... is this the gfxCardStatus your talking about?
Click to expand...

Umm, you should read what the person who kindly posted post #9 above said. :rolleyes:
 
Oh ahaha

Sorry i thought that link he posted was part of his sig and not his post.
 
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