You don't really "need" the i5 either. A Core 2 Duo can surf the web and run a word processor just fine.
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i5 or i7 for college student
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You don't really "need" the i5 either. A Core 2 Duo can surf the web and run a word processor just fine.
I appreciate your attempt at rationalizing the i5, but I'll stick to the advice of the professionals and my own observations. Thanks for playing though.
Matferg won, man,*admit defeat - for a normal person don't ever tell them to get i7, the money savings will definitely serve them better.
Really? Wow. Ok. So I guess people who work hard and can afford it shouldn't "waste" their money on the fastest MBA they can buy?
Ok. You win. I lose. (Sigh).
exactly! I can certainly afford an i7, but I got an i5 because I know I won't notice it 95% of the time. The 5% of the time I might (heavy processing binges like conversions) I have plenty of other things to do while waiting. And my MBA will be obsolete for other reasons before the CPU becomes the bottleneck in my daily work.
I took that money and I put it towards a time capsule instead. Now, automatic wireless backups and a fast-as-hell router I notice MUCH more
I can't wait until the AppleTV goes AC-spec XBMC could use the extra speed.
No there isn't. Have you read the reviews?
Undergrad work however, is not taxing on a computer. I am always amazed at how many think college is somehow very demanding computer wise. I have a base i5 air for my grad studies and never once have a needed more cpu. My grad program is quite research/coding intensive at that. I just don't understand why pay for something you will never see the benefits for in real life, especially in the college setting. He will largely use the machine for document creation, internet, email, and music if my experience in undergrad is any indication. Programs for major? Probably not as he won't have licenses for them to run on a personal machine being that it is cost prohibitive. That is what labs are for, or vpn'ing into the lab machines.
Besides, at least in research at the grad school level, I would argue the biggest bottleneck is ram, not cpu. If one really needs to conduct intese research, they won't be using an air anyways. They will have a dedicated workstation/lab computers and the air would be an auxiliary device.
Call me stingy but when college costs as much as it does, and increases in tuition rates at 9% a year or so, throwing money on an upgrade that won't be realized is foolish. There are better things to be spending funds on.
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Pretty sure people who work hard and can afford it should just spend the extra $150 and buy an rMBP. Much more power than the i7 MBA.
I say go with the i5. I haven't really decided which one to get, but I'm leaning towards the i5. I would enjoy the i7's power, but I use the MBA for its portability when I'm away from my iMac. And if I occasionally have to wait some extra seconds when compiling an app or exporting a heavy pdf, I'll be fine.
If it would be my primary computer I would chose the i7, but I can't recommend that to you.
If it would be my primary computer I would chose the i7, but I can't recommend that to you.
Yeah but its thicker and heavier. That's another issue.
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Ummmmm, yes?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u/5
Yeah but its thicker and heavier. That's another issue.
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Ummmmm, yes?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u/5
Then you would have seen that the upgrade isn't "huge" for the uses of a typical college student. I am not saying the upped performance isn't there but that one in most cases will never even perceive it.
It would help if the OP listed his intended uses but if its just for college in general, then Office,iTunes, Safari will load just as fast, documents will be typed just as fast, etc
If you really need cpu performance, you shouldn't be looking at airs in the first place.
What review are you reading??? Where does it say anything about college students? All I see is 20% improvement over last year's model. 20%. For $150.
same as you
In the OP
All I see is 20% improvement over last year's model. 20%. For $150.
150 is ~15% of the base machine that can be used to upgrade later in a few years. 150 bucks is not chump change to many college students either.
Does the OP expect to run benchmarking programs with it always maxing out CPU? I will wager no. On a rare occasion will I expect him to ever max out the CPU at that.
Besides, it is only 20% better on some tests. and those are tests that are cpu central. Not everyday responsiveness....which will be for all intents and purposes, identical and thus a placebo effect for wasting 150 bucks
You can tell yourself that if you want. There is a reason they make the i5 and the i7. And it aint because they are identical.
I'm stuck in this dilemma as well. I mostly just surf the web/email/itunes and some word/excel. The issue is my excel sheets usually require the windows version which means running vm ware fusion and windows/excel. Not sure how much I feel the upgrade in the VM scenario. Im going to get 8gb ram and 256HD just need to sort out the processor so I can pull the trigger.
I am not saying they are identical
I am saying that for the OP's intended usage (being studying at college), the benefit of the i7 isn't there and the premium to have the upgraded i7 is wasted funds better placed elsewhere. College is expensive as is.
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My work machine is an i7 and my home is an i5. My home machine with an i5 is my machine of choice as it has more ram, which is of a tangible benefit for my workflow. The cpus are never at full throttle and the benefit of the i7 is rarely, if ever, realized.
What review are you reading??? Where does it say anything about college students? All I see is 20% improvement over last year's model. 20%. For $150.
20% improvement for the entire system including the RAM upgrade and SSD speed boost in larger sizes. So no, not 20% for $150 at all.
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Really? From the CPU benchmark section of the review -
"the Core i7 upgraded seriously fixes everything. We get near perfect scaling here, showing a massive 27% increase in performance over the default Core i5 1.3GHz setup. The single threaded performance of the upgraded 13-inch MacBook Air is almost able to equal that of the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Anyone underwhelmed by Haswell should keep this in mind. What we're seeing here is a combination of IPC improvements and awesomely aggressive turbo, all within a 15W TDP"
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Zboater, for the OPs needs (being general college), do you really think he needs an i7? Do you believe an i7 will be better than an i5 when it comes to using office? safari? iTunes? None of those apps will ever max out the i5
No one is saying the i5 is better than the i7 as you seem to imply (except maybe in batt life, which is the whole point of an air I would argue). But for the OPs needs and situation, I don't see the logic in spending extra for a cpu that is just not needed for the tasks that accompany college (and I am using my own experience for that as the OP hasn't told us any different aside from what his major is).
I am glad it is not a waste to you but then again you probably have a much different workflow that may utilize it and have a job that can more easily afford the premium
No one is saying the i5 is better than the i7 as you seem to imply (except maybe in batt life, which is the whole point of an air I would argue). But for the OPs needs and situation, I don't see the logic in spending extra for a cpu that is just not needed for the tasks that accompany college (and I am using my own experience for that as the OP hasn't told us any different aside from what his major is).
I am glad it is not a waste to you but then again you probably have a much different workflow that may utilize it and have a job that can more easily afford the premium
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No, maybe not, but I am not in the habit of recommending underpowered configurations especially if I intend to keep the system for a while, as I assume a college student would. If he cannot afford the extra $150, then fine, don't. But if you are spending that kind of money on a laptop and can afford the extra $150, then do. This matter of "worth" is tied to one's personal situation. Not all college students are poor. Many college students are doing computer majors and could definitely use the extra horsepower, whether it be with iMovie or programming or playing the ocassional game.
So just because word processing won't max out an i5 doesn't make recommending the slower processor any better advice. When it comes to computers, more memory, more disk space, and more CPU horsepower is good. The extra "heat" and "battery" issues have been debunked as myths. My advice? Buy the most computer you can afford. Period. Be you a student or a doctor or a bus driver.
Whether the OP in threads like this state it in their first post, or it gets dragged out of them in multiple posts, all list their current requirements for an MBA.
Do you really think the OP, for as long as he owns the MBA, will only ever need an MBA that meets his 'general college' requirements? For most people, requirements change over time.
If the options under consideration were huge dollar amounts, that'd be one thing, but they are not (except for the 512 gig SSD).