Going back to the 11"

[J273]

Last year i went with the 11" and loved the thing.This year i decided to go for the 13" ...tis a great machine but still thinking of going back to the 11".

I used the 11" as my main machine paired with a 30" monitor and it worked very well for me.

Im currently using the 13" base model and was planning on going with the 1.8ghz 11" but the delivery date is too far away and will be out of my 14days to return the 13"

Is there much of a difference between the the 1.6ghz 11" i5 and 1.7ghz 13" i5 base?

I will be using the machine for basic video editing using FCP and imovie.

Thanks

 

[nebulos]

reviews thread

Anand's CPU performance page

the i5 in the 13 is better, by ... 10-15%?

if you want the 11", the CPU difference is probably not worth sweating.

 

[MRU]

Is there much of a difference between the the 1.6ghz 11" i5 and 1.7ghz 13" i5 base?

I will be using the machine for basic video editing using FCP and imovie.

Thanks

About 12-18% between the two base models.

There is about 25% difference between the 1.6 i5 11" and 1.8 i7 11"

 

[DrNelly]

I exchanged the 11" i5/1.6 for the 11" i7/1.8 and there is a huge leap in performance, I'd say the first few days of use you won't notice the bump as much, but as time goes by and tasks start requiring more swapping and caching you'll notice the difference big time. 30% doesn't seem much, but put it this way, a task that takes 30 secs to complete on the i5 will take about 20 on the i7.

Even the most mundane tasks like opening mail or restarting Lion benefit greatly from the speed bump. Also, when installing apps or transferring files the bigger 4MB cache helps as well.

If the 11" will become your main machine by hooking it up to a big monitor get the i7, you'll be happy you did.

 

[J273]

Thanks guys...yeah I'm thinking of going with the i7



Just a thought...if i order the i7 11" now it estimates delivery on the 23rd august.

Are these estimates pretty much bang on?

Also DrNelly have you seen a hit in battery life compared to the i5?

Thanks

 

[DrNelly]

Also DrNelly have you seen a hit in battery life compared to the i5?

Not really, if anything I can squeeze 10-12 more minutes out of the i7 for some reason. My normal usage includes lots of coding/compiling, browsing (no flash on safari), and lots of mail and Spotify...

Under normal usage conditions and with brightness set to 4-5 bars I get about 260 minutes. The least I got out of it was about 180 minutes when watching Futurama in HD and installing lots of apps in the background.

 

[xeonbot]

If you're planning to use the 11-inch away from a power socket much, bear in mind you'll get significantly worse battery life than with the 13-inch.

The 11-inch also runs hot with quite a bit of fan action, particularly on the i7. Video work is definitely gonna heat that puppy up more than the 13-inch.

 

[buddybd]

I ordered my 11" i7 from macmall, and they seem to have it in stock. Try calling them up.

 

[supersalo]

If you're planning to use the 11-inch away from a power socket much, bear in mind you'll get significantly worse battery life than with the 13-inch.

I ran a test and found that the 13" i5 gave me 50 minutes more than the 11" i7. I was surprised (thought the 13" would give me a bit more time than that).

 

[brand]

I ran a test and found that the 13" i5 gave me 50 minutes more than the 11" i7. I was surprised (thought the 13" would give me a bit more time than that).

Without divulging what the test was comprised of make it hardly conclusive and just random numbers posted on a forum.

 

[swedefish]

So is the word on the i7 11-inchers that they run hot/loud? Has this been stated in any professional review or is it something that's only an issue for overzealous MacRumors users?

 

[supersalo]

Without divulging what the test was comprised of make it hardly conclusive and just random numbers posted on a forum.

Thanks for the snark.

My test is the apps I use on a daily basis. Doing the same tasks with the same apps open gave me 50 minutes more battery life on the 13" i5 compared to the same apps running on the 11" i7.

 

[njsa04playa]

So is the word on the i7 11-inchers that they run hot/loud? Has this been stated in any professional review or is it something that's only an issue for overzealous MacRumors users?

i dont think theres any real difference just the people that have OCD or whatever make a big deal out of it

 

[Fasailmac]

This machine is beautiful, it truly is the best apple laptop produced. I have the i7 model i have heard the fans only twice, it does not get hot at all and I even have the vents covered most of the time. Compared to the 13 inch macbook pro this is ice cold. Indeed the battery life is less than the 13 inch, however this thing charges so fast. Words cannot describe how much I adore this laptop and this is after going through three returns.(15 i7 Macbook pro, 13 inch MB pro, 13 Mb air)

 

[brand]

Thanks for the snark.

My test is the apps I use on a daily basis. Doing the same tasks with the same apps open gave me 50 minutes more battery life on the 13" i5 compared to the same apps running on the 11" i7.

Your welcome.

I'm not sure how you can call that a test. That is just normal use that could be easily construed to make the i7 have a longer battery life.

 

[Razzz]

go for the i7, heavy internet pages with lots of flash run smooth. gets a little hot but nothing that i would even consider exchanging for. Perhaps a lion update in the near future will fix.

 

[Paix247]

I had the 11" and switched to the 13". The extra battery life, SD slot, and much, much louder speakers makes the 13" my machine of choice, hands down.

 

[swedefish]

go for the i7, heavy internet pages with lots of flash run smooth. gets a little hot but nothing that i would even consider exchanging for. Perhaps a lion update in the near future will fix.

I never actually use my laptop in my lap so I am more concerned about how loud it runs. How are the fans on the i7? For example, doing non-flash/graphics intensive stuff, do they go above the minimum ~2000 rpm or whatever the minimum is on the MBA?

 

[donster28]

I used to have a 2010 11". I loved the portability but I hated the battery life.

I now have a 2011 base 13". Not as portable but I love the bigger screen, and not to mention, the extended battery life.

Also, the 11"'s screen 'border' bothers me...it's just too thick for my liking.