Difficult 2011 13" i5 v i7 Decision!

[MacCrackAddict]

Hi, so i've been reading around for months preparing for the new MBP lineup and will getting one in a few weeks! my dilemma is that my current 2008 C2D MB is (obviously) slow and laggy for the applications i use.

I do a lot of video converting and am a FCE level editor for my course at uni. other than that i mainly do a small amount of photo editing and all your basics i.e. surfing the net and word processing.

I would like to know if the £300 difference between the i5 and i7 is REALLY worth it as i read somewhere the i7 is not much more than 10% faster. Will i notice that much of a difference considering my only application that eats at my C2D is video converting? only interested in the processor not SSD as i need to upgrade to 500gb anyway, and SSD for £1000 is a bit out of my league!!

Thanks!

 

[Mikey7c8]

Arguable. Plus if they manage to get quick sync working there'll likely be no difference.

Are people still using Turbo.264?

 

[MacCrackAddict]

Tell me about it trying to find an answer this specific is a nightmare!

quick sync would be great but worries me a little how it might effect all of our current mac software.

yeah they are but i found .264 HD to be a bit 'dodgy' with the audio a little out of sync :| still the best for us mac users though

any thoughts on the dilemma?

 

[akhbhaat]

No, absolutely not worth it--and the only way I'd change my opinion on that (assuming the current price premium) is if Apple included a decent discrete GPU in the higher spec model, or if they used a quad core i7 instead.

There will be processors 18 or 24 months from now that make the performance gap between the two seem absolutely negligible--as is, I already see it as being fairly marginal. Look at it this way: you could just as easily save that £300 now and eat it next year as a resale depreciation expense instead and buy a brand new machine that's comfortably faster and/or better equipped than either of the models currently on the market.

 

[DustinT]

Honestly, the i7 is of limited value. If you really want an upgrade you should save a little more money and get the base 15". It would be almost twice as fast as the dual core 13"s.

 

[MacCrackAddict]

Thanks akhbhaat! that's just the clarification i was looking for! when you bring it into such context the gap between the two seems petty and i never thought of saving the extra £300 to bridge the gap in the de-valuation of the two models, as i was obviously worried about keeping the value as best as possible. But this solves it, i5 it is!








 2008 MB 13" C2D 320GB, iPhone 4 16GB, iPod Classic 80GB, 2010 Apple TV '2' 

 

[M Powered]

I had the 15" for a few days, came to the conclusion it was a little too big, so I go the 13" i7, and bought an SSD and still had money left over, so I bought accessories, this thing Flies now

 

[mediasorcerer]

i5 ssd and 8 ram! probly be close to same as i7,

 

[kobyh15]

I just ordered the 13" i7 off of MacMall yesterday for $1400 shipped. Reasoning being it was a great deal and I will add SSD and 8 GB RAM later. Probably the #1 reason is that I had the money set back to spend. Spend the amount of money that you are comfortable with at the time of purchase and then don't look back. As long as you are happy with your machine and you got it at the price you were willing to pay then it's all good!