Core2duo vs Core i5

[Icanhazmacbook]

Hi, im buying a MacBook pro open box from a store by me called Micro Center.
They have two ones I'm interested in:

$750 - 15.4" MacBook pro w/ C2D 2.66 ghz Model Number MB985LL/A

$800 - 13.3" MacBook pro w/ Core i5 2.4 ghz Model Number MD313LL/A

Also please don't say buy a new or a refurb MacBook, because it is too much for my budget.

Thanks

 

[Jessica Lares]

The Core i5 is much, much, much newer, and much better.

 

[dukebound85]

core i5

 

[Icanhazmacbook]

The Core i5 is much, much, much newer, and much better.

I know it is newer, i only do photo editing occasionally and school work, will I benefit a lot from the i5?

Thanks

 

[Hrududu]

I think the real question here is whether or not you would benefit from the larger screen & dedicated graphics more than a little horsepower.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I know it is newer, i only do photo editing occasionally and school work, will I benefit a lot from the i5?

Thanks

Yes.

The C2D is from 2009, and the i5 is from 2011 (It's the same model I have).

I don't know what software you're going to use to do photo editing, but Photoshop works really well on the i5.

 

[srsub3]

two year difference for a computer is huge.... hands on the i5!

 

[Crzyrio]

Hi, im buying a MacBook pro open box from a store by me called Micro Center.
They have two ones I'm interested in:

$750 - 15.4" MacBook pro w/ C2D 2.66 ghz Model Number MB985LL/A

$800 - 13.3" MacBook pro w/ Core i5 2.4 ghz Model Number MD313LL/A

Also please don't say buy a new or a refurb MacBook, because it is too much for my budget.

Thanks

Small screen is a quick fix with an external monitor, but you cant fix a C2D. 100% go for the i5, it is a fairly big jump in processing power.

 

[yusukeaoki]

For just 50 bucks, that jump is huge.

 

[throAU]

To give you an idea, a core i3 benchmarks about the same speed as a Core 2 Q6600 quad core (yes, multi-threaded).

An i5 is much faster.

 

[keekl]

For just 50 bucks, that jump is huge.

Agreed and wouldn't think twice about it

 

[vladster]

Hi, im buying a MacBook pro open box from a store by me called Micro Center.
They have two ones I'm interested in:

$750 - 15.4" MacBook pro w/ C2D 2.66 ghz Model Number MB985LL/A

$800 - 13.3" MacBook pro w/ Core i5 2.4 ghz Model Number MD313LL/A

Also please don't say buy a new or a refurb MacBook, because it is too much for my budget.

Thanks

Around a year ago I upgraded from MacBook 2009 white C2D 4G RAM to MacBook Pro i5 4G RAM.

One particular CPU intensive project that I've been working on and transferred to a new laptop became ~2 times faster. So, it almost feels like the difference in speed between these two processors is proportional to number of cores.