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Hard to decide! 15" i5 or i7? please advice!

Y

y2h501

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2010
4
0
hi everyone:D

I want to change to Mac from PC, but have no ideas which one should i go for it. i'm mainly doing word/excel, web-browsing, youtube, playing games like Bad Company2, CS:S, L4D2, MW2 and Just Cause2 etc etc.
heres my two option:

a) 15" i5 2.53ghz, 128 OR 256 SSD hard disk, Hi-res glossy

b) 15" i7 2.66ghz, 128 SSD, Hi-res glossy

which one is going to suit me more:confused::confused: please advice
 
y2h501 said:
hi everyone:D

I want to change to Mac from PC, but have no ideas which one should i go for it. i'm mainly doing word/excel, web-browsing, youtube, playing games like Bad Company2, CS:S, L4D2, MW2 and Just Cause2 etc etc.
heres my two option:

a) 15" i5 2.53ghz, 128 OR 256 SSD hard disk, Hi-res glossy

b) 15" i7 2.66ghz, 128 SSD, Hi-res glossy

which one is going to suit me more:confused::confused: please advice
Click to expand...

Good article... check it out... http://www.anandtech.com/show/3659/apples-15inch-core-i5-macbook-pro-the-one-to-get
 
0.o

Everything I do on my 13" MacBook Pro currently...

For the sake of life-span, I'd go with the Core i, though. Take the i5, as it isn't overkill, yet will have the most modern technology.

You don't need all that much processor to run such things :p It's mostly about the graphics card, which Apple has handled quite well in both options.
 
These benchmarks might help you decide... I guess the main constraint is money when comparing the i7 vs i5 and the SSD capacity.

Personally I'd go with the i7@2.66 with the better GPU (512MB of GDDR3 memory) for gaming, but the difference in performance vs. the i5@2.53 is VERY small, so either would be OK. I'd get the stock hard drive or upgrade to 7200rpm, and later get a better SSD from a more inexpensive source. That way you get to keep the original drive as an external/portable drive with a simple enclosure for big files, plus a better SSD as your startup drive. The drives are user-replaceable in the MBP, and Apple's SSD upgrades are a bit of a rip-off.

Here you can get good deals for the SSD and the enclosure.

enjoy!
 
y2h501 said:
hi everyone:D

I want to change to Mac from PC, but have no ideas which one should i go for it. i'm mainly doing word/excel, web-browsing, youtube, playing games like Bad Company2, CS:S, L4D2, MW2 and Just Cause2 etc etc.
heres my two option:

a) 15" i5 2.53ghz, 128 OR 256 SSD hard disk, Hi-res glossy

b) 15" i7 2.66ghz, 128 SSD, Hi-res glossy

which one is going to suit me more:confused::confused: please advice
Click to expand...

If gaming is your main concern go for the i7 with 1440x900 resolution, because then you would have the fastest processor and GPU, but the lower resolution will render faster, so you would get more frames per second

If you want a more balanced computer, get the anti glare screen, unless you just like glare and tiny text??? and get the i5 2.4 Ghz. Then buy an Intel gen3 SSD this fall.

the i5 2.4, 2.53, and i7 2.66 are all the same processor just using a different clock speed. This is why the performance difference is so close and why the upgrade is too much. Also the extra 256 dedicated video memory will not be a big difference in performance.
 
kny3twalker said:
If gaming is your main concern go for the i7 with 1440x900 resolution, because then you would have the fastest processor and GPU, but the lower resolution will render faster, so you would get more frames per second

If you want a more balanced computer, get the anti glare screen, unless you just like glare and tiny text??? and get the i5 2.4 Ghz. Then buy an Intel gen3 SSD this fall.

the i5 2.4, 2.53, and i7 2.66 are all the same processor just using a different clock speed. This is why the performance difference is so close and why the upgrade is too much. Also the extra 256 dedicated video memory will not be a big difference in performance.
Click to expand...

i thought the extra 256mb video memory will have big difference. but ths for the advice anyway;)
 
i found two different size of intel x25 ssd. which one is fit to the MBP:confused:

Intel 160GB X25-M Mainstream 2.5" MLC SATA SSD SSDSA2MH160G201 (7.0mm)

Intel 160GB X25-M Mainstream 2.5" MLC SATA SSD SSDSA2MH160G2C1 (9.5mm)

7.0mm or the 9.5mm?:confused:

and i found one that is with the pretty box (no idea what is it) is it useful:confused:
Intel 160GB X25-M Mainstream 2.5" MLC SATA SSD SSDSA2MH160G2R5 9.5mm/Pretty Box
 
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I will play games like Bad Company 2 and MW2 so I decided for the i7 with the GT330M 512mb. Otherwise I won't be able to have a decent gaming experience in higher settings.
 
Guiguiga said:
I will play games like Bad Company 2 and MW2 so I decided for the i7 with the GT330M 512mb. Otherwise I won't be able to have a decent gaming experience in higher settings.
Click to expand...

Thing is.. I really haven't seen the 256mb vs 512mb options comprehensively compared yet in the context of gaming potential.
 
I'm guessing that money is no object since you are going with SSD and thinking of an i7 for Internet usage. If that is true, just go with the i7.

I would like to point out 3 things though:

1, The MBP is NOT a good gaming platform. The selection of games is limited compared to the Windows platform and Macs are often an after thought for game designers. So I hope that this is not a primary function.


2, you will pay a premium for an i7 over an i5 that you will probably not take advantage of based on your stated uses. Nothing that you've mentioned will make good use of the i7.


3, for Gaming, the GPU will be your bottleneck, not the SSD or CPU. The 330M is good for now but not great... It will be even less great in the future. So buying an i7 for future use, when the GPU is going to kill you first might not make the most sense.


Just my 2 cents.
 
^Unless you install Windows via bootcamp. As long as you control the fan speed, these things are great for gaming. I can't believe what games I can run on this with great settings.
 
y2h501 said:
i thought the extra 256mb video memory will have big difference. but ths for the advice anyway;)
Click to expand...

It generally is not going to make any difference.

The best setup IMO is still i5 2.4GHz with high resolution anti glare display and SSD later this year.
 
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