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i5 v i7 purchases.

bhayes444 said:
As has already been posted by Jazwire, there are indeed games that are CPU limited; with most of these being RTS/RPG games (spoiler alert: he mentions in his post that Civ is indeed one of those CPU intensive games). Also, the i7 has a GPU turbo rate of 100mhz higher than the i5 (1000mhz for the i5 vs 1100mhz for the i7). While not the most impressive stat in the world it would still be better during games that are GPU intensive. If people want to buy the macbook air and play games on it, then the i7 is the much better option for higher performance.

Te reiterate the common consensus here: For the targeted audience of the macbook air the i5 is the best choice. For those select few people that would like to do some intensive amounts of work in the lightest package available, the i7 wins hands down.
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They might be CPU intensive but are not CPU limited on the air. As for the GPU, numerous reviews state the extra GPU clock gives no extra performance gains, or hardly any at all.
 
hakr100 said:
I went for the i7. The apple purchase I can't seem to make up my mind about is the $70 magic mouse. I'm using a wired mouse now, and I supposed the next time I'm in an apple store, I'll try the magic mouse. But $70 for a mouse...seems over the top to me.
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I've had several for several years. They are durable and in my opinion an absolute must if you desire to use a mouse. There are gestures that only it can perform that makes life easier for me. It's also very well built and a pleasure to use. You can always return it if it's not for you. The ONE thing that I could complain about is battery life. It takes two batteries and I probably change them four or five times a year. My other bluetooth mouses' batteries seemed to last well over a year if not more. They sell some sort of recharging station w/ batteries but the reviews are mostly poor and you can buy quite a few AAA batteries for the price of the recharging station.
 
calvol said:
So you sit and watch your i7 encode the whole movie and do nothing else in the meantime?
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Whether he does or not, it could mean the difference between working back at the office to get the project out the door or not.

Whether or not he's sitting there watching it all the time or not, if his job depends on getting a product finished, it will have an impact.
 
When I get a new PC or Mac, I get the best I can with my budget. So check how much you can spend and get the best you can.

Can you afford the i7? if yes just get it! :)
 
FrancoisC said:
When I get a new PC or Mac, I get the best I can with my budget. So check how much you can spend and get the best you can.

Can you afford the i7? if yes just get it! :)
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If you can afford the i7, don't get it, save up $150 more and get the rMBP. More power, better screen.
 
throAU said:
Whether he does or not, it could mean the difference between working back at the office to get the project out the door or not.

Whether or not he's sitting there watching it all the time or not, if his job depends on getting a product finished, it will have an impact.
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If his job depends on how fast a CPU intensive task can be executed, the MBA is not what he needs.
 
sergiobaschi said:
If his job depends on how fast a CPU intensive task can be executed, the MBA is not what he needs.
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That's good advice. Apple does make other laptops that can meet the demands, rather than wishing the mac air is something it is not.

I believe the air and the 15" mbp are the best value for the money.

The 13" rmbp is not just lighter than the 15. It has a smaller footprint, cheaper, and more powerful than the air. One of those three aforementioned items does Not have a dollar value, but may be worth more than a return on investment.

I do wish the air was an IPS screen with the current resolution.
Lots of windows pc's with 1920x1080 screens do not work out well with dpi and text size even though it looks good on paper.
Apple did mac air users well on their resolution and dpi choice.
 
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