i5 or i7?

[Arsenal09]

hi guys,

i'm planning to buy the new 13" mbp.
i can almost buy the one with i5. But i'm gonna do a little gaming on it, for serious gaming i have my ps3, so i'm not gonna play heavy games on it. so my question is: is i5 good enough for some gaming for the next few years, or is the one with i7 so much better? is it really a big difference?

thnx,

 

[Hellhammer]

The difference is pretty negligible in gaming since both have the same GPUs. Get the i5 and save the money towards an SSD for example.

 

[anc1en7z]

Save your money

I'd also have to agree.

Get the entry level 13 inch, upgrade the Hard drive to an SSD and keep the internal hard drive as an external for Pictures music etc.

A PS3 will be far superior for gaming to a Mac.

 

[Arsenal09]

ok, than i'm gonna buy the one with i5, thanks a lot

 

[adnoh]

The difference is pretty negligible in gaming since both have the same GPUs. Get the i5 and save the money towards an SSD for example.

^^^ what he said

 

[ctbear]

When we talk about upgrading to an SSD, are we talking about the BTO apple branded SSDs or other aftermarket SSDs?
I checked the prices on newegg briefly, the Apple 128GB is actually priced very competitively.

 

[Hellhammer]

When we talk about upgrading to an SSD, are we talking about the BTO apple branded SSDs or other aftermarket SSDs?
I checked the prices on newegg briefly, the Apple 128GB is actually priced very competitively.

Your call. 250$ isn't the cheapest 120/128GB SSD and you don't get to keep the original HD. Not a bad deal though.

 

[iZero]

Your call. 250$ isn't the cheapest 120/128GB SSD and you don't get to keep the original HD. Not a bad deal though.

+1. One of the big advantages to getting the standard HDD and ordering an aftermarket SSD, is that you get to keep the original HDD, and also have the SSD, for a reasonably similar (or even better) price But like Hellhammer said, that's not a bad deal!

 

[ctbear]

Your call. 250$ isn't the cheapest 120/128GB SSD and you don't get to keep the original HD. Not a bad deal though.

+1. One of the big advantages to getting the standard HDD and ordering an aftermarket SSD, is that you get to keep the original HDD, and also have the SSD, for a reasonably similar (or even better) price But like Hellhammer said, that's not a bad deal!

I'm even considering using Apple's SSD because of official TRIM support...not sure if TRIM is worth the extra money though as I have never used SSDs on my computers.

 

[Tonepoet]

For gaming it won't make a big difference but I think the question when it comes to the processor, is what are you going to do heavily? The i7 might be useful if you like having lots of applications in use at once or do some processor oriented tasks. That having been said, if you're not using it heavily for anything, then perhaps even a core2duo could do, unless you really want the thunderbolt port. The SSD is probably going to be the biggest factor in any performance boosts you might notice, since it eliminates a bottleneck.

Although they're rough equivalents, some people prefer the Nividia card to the AMD to make use of the CUDA core. Also another consideration to keep in mind, just incase you missed it, is if you get the i7, you get $50 dollars off of the Apple SSD.


However if you do a self install on either, you can keep the old HDD, buy an enclosure for it and use it as an incredibly cheap external. If you don't need to boot, some USB enclosures can be as cheap as $5. This allows you to get away with smaller SSDs optimized for specific tasks bigger savings or use them as a backup drive.

 

[Arsenal09]

For gaming it won't make a big difference but I think the question when it comes to the processor, is what are you going to do heavily? The i7 might be useful if you like having lots of applications in use at once or do some processor oriented tasks. That having been said, if you're not using it heavily for anything, then perhaps even a core2duo could do, unless you really want the thunderbolt port. The SSD is probably going to be the biggest factor in any performance boosts you might notice, since it eliminates a bottleneck.

Although they're rough equivalents, some people prefer the Nividia card to the AMD to make use of the CUDA core. Also another consideration to keep in mind, just incase you missed it, is if you get the i7, you get $50 dollars off of the Apple SSD.


However if you do a self install on either, you can keep the old HDD, buy an enclosure for it and use it as an incredibly cheap external. If you don't need to boot, some USB enclosures can be as cheap as $5. This allows you to get away with smaller SSDs optimized for specific tasks bigger savings or use them as a backup drive.

Thanks for the information. But if the i5 wil be good & strong enough for the next couple of years, i will be happy with it I don't think i need the i7 if it's only better for some more tasks at one moment.

 

[Kyzelios]

I'd also recommend the Core i5 processor, as the Core i7 would be overkill for what you're looking to do by the sounds of it.