i5 or i7 cMBP 13"

[scottish]

Sorry I know this has been done to death but even after reading everything I can't make up my mind.

I am upgrading from a 2010 Toshiba Core 2 Duo laptop that is way past its best.

I'm now finally in a position to purchase a MBP and have settled on the 13 inch model (after deliberating over: retina, waiting for haswell, 15 inch, air). I would like to get the base i5 as that is right in my budget but I don't know if it will be enough for my uses.

I am getting into photography and run Lightroom on my PC. Going forward I will be doing the same on MBP. Beside this, I am converting old camcorder tapes to get them ready to edit in iMovie (or a more serious app should that be required down the line). I know that the MBP will be wayyyy faster than my Toshiba but I have visions of using this thing for up to five years (I guess it will be laggy by then either way so perhaps this isn't realistic). The 2007 iMac I'm typing this on is still going fairly strong for basic use but is slow in iMovie.

I plan to upgrade to SSD when they come down in price enough and will be upgrading RAM almost immediately after purchase.

Please help me decide between i5 and i7.

 

[T5BRICK]

I'd go with the i5. You're going to want to upgrade before 5 years in either case. You can find it for around $1000 if you look around.

 

[Xgm541]

The i5 to i7 won't be that drastic of an increase to justify the cost IMO.

Keep in mind the 13inch has integrated graphics which will likely be the limiting factor later in its life.

If you'd be getting an i7 and upgrading to an ssd why not upgrade to the 15inch or retina instead? You get dedicated graphics and with the retina you get an ssd. Those would be more future proof.

One last thing to consider is the low resolution of the 13 inch, 1280x800.

Either get a better overall machine or stick with i5

 

[mslide]

Paying extra for a slight speed bump is hardly ever worth it. It only makes sense if you do a lot of computational things and that extra 15% or so will really pay off for you. It certainly won't make your MacBook last any longer either. In 5 years, the i5 and i7 will be virtually identical... really slow relative to what is available at that time. It's like comparing the different processors of 2007'ish MacBooks. They all suck today.

For most people, they would never notice the difference.

It would be different if we were talking dual-core vs quad-core but that's not the case here.

 

[entatlrg]

i5 is cooler and quieter.

 

[scottish]

Thanks all for the replies.

I'd go with the i5. You're going to want to upgrade before 5 years in either case. You can find it for around $1000 if you look around.

I wish haha! I'm in the UK so it will cost 859GBP with student discount.

The i5 to i7 won't be that drastic of an increase to justify the cost IMO.

Keep in mind the 13inch has integrated graphics which will likely be the limiting factor later in its life.

If you'd be getting an i7 and upgrading to an ssd why not upgrade to the 15inch or retina instead? You get dedicated graphics and with the retina you get an ssd. Those would be more future proof.

One last thing to consider is the low resolution of the 13 inch, 1280x800.

Either get a better overall machine or stick with i5

I decided fairly early on that I wanted a 13 inch screen so the integrated graphics is something I am prepared to live with.

I would love the retina but right now I just don't have the money for that.

Aware of the low resolution but I have an external monitor I will use a lot of the time.

Paying extra for a slight speed bump is hardly ever worth it. It only makes sense if you do a lot of computational things and that extra 15% or so will really pay off for you. It certainly won't make your MacBook last any longer either. In 5 years, the i5 and i7 will be virtually identical... really slow relative to what is available at that time. It's like comparing the different processors of 2007'ish MacBooks. They all suck today.

For most people, they would never notice the difference.

It would be different if we were talking dual-core vs quad-core but that's not the case here.

That's a good way of thinking about it - I imagine comparing the iMac I'm using just now to one of it's 'peers' they would seem similar.

i5 is cooler and quieter.

Something I hadn't considered - cheers.