Help a brother decide. (i5 2.4 or i7 2.6)

C

c-hass

macrumors member
Hello all, I'm a new member and proud to be among you.

I have decided to get a macbook pro 15" (because the 13 is too small and the 17 is too big).
Been using a great Sony Vaio for 4 years now, and it still run very good, but the body is dying (keyboard, screen..etc), so I need to get the MBP asap.

So, the problem is that I cannot decide between the two 15's, the i5 2.4 and th i7 2.6 (the i5 2.5 does not interest me at all).
To help you with the discussion, I'm a film student, so I'll be doing a lot of video editing. Plus, I'm a photographer, so I'll be using Photoshop CS5 and adobe Lightroom 3 (which are running on my Vaio now) and Aperture.
Apart from that, I'll be blogging, using internet, lots of music, watching movies, and running a few games on boot camp.
I'm also considering to buy 2x4GB ram, instead of the 2x2GB that come with the 15". I might also be getting a 128GB SSD (later on).

So which one do you suggest? The i5 with the extra 4GB of Ram and SSD, or the i7 with 4GB and HDD?
Also, I know it's the same graphic card, but does the 512mb on the i7 deliver much more power than the i5?

Money wise, the MBP is already too pricey for me, but strange enough the price difference between the i5 and i7 doesn't bother me that much.

Finally, personally am leaning towards the i5 with 8GB Ram and SSD, but I'm all ready to hear your thoughts, you mac professionals :)

Thanks a lot folks!
 
If I were you, and I decided that the money for the computer wasn't important :p I would just get the 8GB RAM and SSD. Since you're a student, you'll want your computer to last you a few years, right? So get something you know will last you a few years. Any one of the processors will get you where you need to go as far as computing power, so you're fine there. 8GB of RAM will definitely run all those programs, and the SSD will make them load very quickly (comparatively to other machines).

My only concern is this: If you plan on using bootcamp, you might want to get just a regular hard drive. Please understand my reasoning: I have bootcamp on my MB. I use 100GB for windows, and 150 GB for mac. I play a few games on windows, but mostly draft. It takes up a lot of space. I only have 36 GB free on windows and 52GB free on mac. So decide what you want. If you're going to use bootcamp a lot, then go with HDD. But if you're not going to use bootcamp at all, or only a very select few things, then go SSD.

Hope this helps. Cheers :)
 
well due to your professions i think that you will be needing the i7 in any case.
its all up to you with the ram and ssd.
with the ssd swap usage will be so fast it wont really be noticeable, with the extra ram you wont be using swap very much.
i dont know how much ram you will be needing, i did a little editing in after effects and i was wishing i had an ssd because swap usage was so bad. (specs in signature)
 
Here is what I have:
early 2008 MBP 2.5 GHZ. 500GB Hitachi Travelstar 7200, 4GB RAM.

I have had this since October 2008. It runs CS4 master collection, my 110GB iTunes library (all music), Aperture 3 (have tons of RAW and TIFFs) and everything else I use very well. I bet it would be even better with an SSD. I am thinking of swapping out the optical drive with an SSD or secondary HDD.

With that said, any of the 15"s would do what you are seeking perfectly. Ofcourse the i7 would probably run things faster and be "current" for a bit longer, but it will last years and years!

Oh and get AppleCare! Apple JUST replaced my LogicBoard, keyboard, upper case, battery and is replacing the Matte screen next week! The logicboard was replaced a few months after i bought it. $249 well spent!
 
Blondie :) said:
If I were you, and I decided that the money for the computer wasn't important :p I would just get the 8GB RAM and SSD. Since you're a student, you'll want your computer to last you a few years, right? So get something you know will last you a few years. Any one of the processors will get you where you need to go as far as computing power, so you're fine there. 8GB of RAM will definitely run all those programs, and the SSD will make them load very quickly (comparatively to other machines).

My only concern is this: If you plan on using bootcamp, you might want to get just a regular hard drive. Please understand my reasoning: I have bootcamp on my MB. I use 100GB for windows, and 150 GB for mac. I play a few games on windows, but mostly draft. It takes up a lot of space. I only have 36 GB free on windows and 52GB free on mac. So decide what you want. If you're going to use bootcamp a lot, then go with HDD. But if you're not going to use bootcamp at all, or only a very select few things, then go SSD.

Hope this helps. Cheers :)
Click to expand...

I do want my pc to last a few years, like I said the Sony I own now was bought in January 2006, 5 years exactly!
Concerning bootcamp, storage is my last concern, I have 1.5 TB of external hard drives, so I'll only be using the internal drives for the applications and the OS's.
Thanks for your reply, it was helpful indeed.
 
trigonometry said:
Buy the i7 MBP from Apple and purchase the SSD and RAM from a 3rd party retailer. You'll save a lot of money.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm planning to do. I'll never buy RAM or SSD from mac.
So, still same wondering, i5 with 8GB ram and SSD or i7 with 4GB and HDD?
 
c-hass said:
That's what I'm planning to do. I'll never buy RAM or SSD from mac.
So, still same wondering, i5 with 8GB ram and SSD or i7 with 4GB and HDD?
Click to expand...

i do believe that the i5 with SSD and RAM will be faster, but the i7 with the same will be quite a bit faster. If you can spring for the faster processor, I would do that. Ram and SSD will go nowhere but down in price (let's hope. I paid $50 for 2x2GB Cruicial RAM in October 2008..then they went up..).

If I can run CS4 and A3 at the same time (and it runs AE CS4 well) on my C2D 2.5GHZ on 4GB ram, I think you will be fine for awhile.

Get the i7!
 
HBOC said:
Here is what I have:
early 2008 MBP 2.5 GHZ. 500GB Hitachi Travelstar 7200, 4GB RAM.

I have had this since October 2008. It runs CS4 master collection, my 110GB iTunes library (all music), Aperture 3 (have tons of RAW and TIFFs) and everything else I use very well. I bet it would be even better with an SSD. I am thinking of swapping out the optical drive with an SSD or secondary HDD.

With that said, any of the 15"s would do what you are seeking perfectly. Ofcourse the i7 would probably run things faster and be "current" for a bit longer, but it will last years and years!

Oh and get AppleCare! Apple JUST replaced my LogicBoard, keyboard, upper case, battery and is replacing the Matte screen next week! The logicboard was replaced a few months after i bought it. $249 well spent!
Click to expand...

That's a relief.
But any experience with video editing?
Also bare in mind that I'm using a 2.6ghz core 2 duo (2006 model) with 1GB ram, so the i5 (let alone the i7) will look like luxury to me.
But still, I want to be able to do video editing. I don't really want it to be SUPER fast, I just want to do it normally.
Thanks for your reply :)
 
HBOC said:
i do believe that the i5 with SSD and RAM will be faster, but the i7 with the same will be quite a bit faster. If you can spring for the faster processor, I would do that. Ram and SSD will go nowhere but down in price (let's hope. I paid $50 for 2x2GB Cruicial RAM in October 2008..then they went up..).

Get the i7!
Click to expand...

You are right about the Ram prices. I mean I can wait a few months then get them.

Now I'm even more tempted to get the i7, I'll wait till the end of the month, see how much money i'll be making from work and balance that with my birthday gift, lol :p
 
Pal, it sounds like the 2.4 I5 would be fine for you. Upgrade when you can to the 8 gig of Ram. Later in the year the SSD prices should drop and you can consider that upgrade at a later date. There is no rush.

Any way that you go here you are getting a spectacular machine. I have 2.4 I5 stock and it is amazing. It runs everything that I throw at it very fast. I will be updating to 8 gig of Ram soon though, but even for me it is a luxury, not a necessity at this point.

Good luck.
 
docal97 said:
Pal, it sounds like the 2.4 I5 would be fine for you. Upgrade when you can to the 8 gig of Ram. Later in the year the SSD prices should drop and you can consider that upgrade at a later date. There is no rush.

Any way that you go here you are getting a spectacular machine. I have 2.4 I5 stock and it is amazing. It runs everything that I throw at it very fast. I will be updating to 8 gig of Ram soon though, but even for me it is a luxury, not a necessity at this point.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I guess If I get the i5, I'll be ordering th 8gigs directly from amazon.


Anyway, the guy who works in the apple store here also suggested the i5 for Final Cut pro, saying that if I had the money, the i7 would be a nice luxury.
He said that, not knowing that i'll be upgrading to 8gigs and SSD.
 
ive dabbled in after effects CS4 and the rendering is fine. I haven't used FC or anything, however.
 
I have the 2,4 i5 with 4GB and FC and aperture works great, so get the 2,4 i5 with 8GB RAM and an SSD, that will be a nice setup, IMHO no need for the i7...
 
An SSD in the i5 will give you better performance than the i7 and standard hard drive. Get both the SSD and the RAM from somewhere other than Apple for a fraction of the price and it will be as good, if not better, quality and performance wise. The gain of i7 over i5 is nowhere near as dramatic of the gain of i5 over i3. The i5 is a very capable laptop processor without a doubt.
 
NickZac said:
An SSD in the i5 will give you better performance than the i7 and standard hard drive. Get both the SSD and the RAM from somewhere other than Apple for a fraction of the price and it will be as good, if not better, quality and performance wise. The gain of i7 over i5 is nowhere near as dramatic of the gain of i5 over i3. The i5 is a very capable laptop processor without a doubt.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I needed to hear!

I think I made my mind!
Thank you all folks, you are a wonderful community.
I'll go to the apple store on the 3rd of January, I'll let you know what I think :)
 
c-hass said:
Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I needed to hear!

I think I made my mind!
Thank you all folks, you are a wonderful community.
I'll go to the apple store on the 3rd of January, I'll let you know what I think :)
Click to expand...

What did you decide?

Looking at your needs I would do the i7. If i was going to make such a huge purchase I would just go all out with my b*lls out (as my bf likes to say sometimes :rolleyes:) I personally use an i5 2.53ghz for some some light video editing and photoshop and it is more than my needs. But better to have more than less if you have a goal in mind.
 
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