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i5 vs i7?

H

hotelfive

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Can anyone please explain to me in idiot terms (I'm referring to myself here) the main differences between the i5 and i7 processors? I am getting a new MBP in the near future and am wondering if it is worth the upgrade to the i7? I will be mainly using Aperture 3...I plan on upgrading to the 7200RPM HD as well as 8gig of RAM. I just want to make sure that Aperture runs as smoothly as possible (I've read that it can make a system very sluggish).

Thanks in advance!
 
i7 has 130MHz faster clock speed and 1MB more cache.

I recommend you getting the base 15" (or 17" if you're getting that) as the CPU upgrade is very small and I doubt you'll notice it. Save the money towards RAM and SSD
 
I'm looking at getting the 17inch (main use for photo editing). Is the max amount of RAM you can put in these 8 gig?
 
jav6454 said:
Same deal. mPGA 989 is just a shrunk of 1156. In other words, the laptop version.
Click to expand...

Yeah but all mobile i7s use it as well, actually all Nehalem based mobile CPUs use it. There is no laptop LGA 1366 AFAIK. Just don't get what you meant with that "believe me, in the 1156 front, an i5 is the better choice"

hotelfive said:
I'm looking at getting the 17inch (main use for photo editing). Is the max amount of RAM you can put in these 8 gig?
Click to expand...

Yes
 
Hellhammer said:
i7 has 130MHz faster clock speed and 1MB more cache.

I recommend you getting the base 15" (or 17" if you're getting that) as the CPU upgrade is very small and I doubt you'll notice it. Save the money towards RAM and SSD
Click to expand...

The SSD price in combination with how many GB you get for it is too high for me. And it costs 360€ extra if I want 8GB of RAM.

But Im still getting the 15inch i7 version, only question for me is; does it run hot fast? Im gonna use it almost the whole day long.. I dont want to damage my battery.. this is the only thing which can change my mind of buying a i7.

[offtopic]Grats on choosing one of the best drummers as nickname[/offtopic]
 
Hellhammer said:
Yeah but all mobile i7s use it as well, actually all Nehalem based mobile CPUs use it. There is no laptop LGA 1366 AFAIK. Just don't get what you meant with that "believe me, in the 1156 front, an i5 is the better choice"
Click to expand...

Because of the QPI requirements there is no mobile 1366 equivalent. Everything is done thru DMI
 
Naxul said:
The SSD price in combination with how many GB you get for it is too high for me. And it costs 360€ extra if I want 8GB of RAM.

But I still getting the 15inch i7 version, only question for me is; does it run hot fast? Im gonna use it almost the whole day long.. I dont want to damage my battery.. this is the only thing which can change my mind of buying a i5.

[offtopic]Grats on choosing one of the drummers as nickname[/offtopic]
Click to expand...

You can buy SSD and RAM from 3rd party. No need for SSD but it's nice extra of course, same thing with 8GB RAM. 2x4GB costs around 300€ from aftermarket and then install it yourself (doesn't void warranty). SSDs are getting bigger and faster all the time so if you can wait, it's worth it.

i5 and i7 have same TDP so they use about the same amount of power so battery won't drain faster with i7 and it won't be hotter.

jav6454 said:
Because of the QPI requirements there is no mobile 1366 equivalent. Everything is done thru DMI
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I still don't get what you meant by that 😕 Sure the i5 is better bang for your buck as i7 is pretty small upgrade as you only get 1MB more cache and few hundred MHz
 
hotelfive said:
Can anyone please explain to me in idiot terms (I'm referring to myself here) the main differences between the i5 and i7 processors? I am getting a new MBP in the near future and am wondering if it is worth the upgrade to the i7? I will be mainly using Aperture 3...I plan on upgrading to the 7200RPM HD as well as 8gig of RAM. I just want to make sure that Aperture runs as smoothly as possible (I've read that it can make a system very sluggish).

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

For photo editing and i5 should be more than enough. Spend the extra cash on upgrading to 8GB of RAM(not through Apple though, that will cost you) and a 7200rpm Firewire external hard drive.Keep your photo collections there and use it as the "scratch drive", it will improve performance.
Upgrading to the high-res matte screen would also be a good idea if you are doing a lot of photo editing.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies...Again sorry with the stupid questions...One more here though 🙂 Can I simply add a 4 gig stick to the existing pre-installed ram or do I have to get two of the same, 4 gig sticks?
 
apw100 said:
For photo editing and i5 should be more than enough. Spend the extra cash on upgrading to 8GB of RAM(not through Apple though, that will cost you) and a 7200rpm Firewire external hard drive.Keep your photo collections there and use it as the "scratch drive", it will improve performance.
Upgrading to the high-res matte screen would also be a good idea if you are doing a lot of photo editing.
Click to expand...

??? It'll cost you the same amount to upgrade to 8gb aftermarket. 400+ (newegg) and low quality ones mind you.
 
Naxul said:
Im still getting the 15inch i7 version, only question for me is; does it run hot fast?
Click to expand...
I cannot speak from experience (yet) as I just ordered mine yesterday.

Yet that said I have identical T510 ThinkPads, the only difference being one has an i5 and the other i7. In the two month period I've used and compared these the pleasant surprise is the i7 runs just as cool as the i5, with virtually no difference.

Thus I chose the i7 for my new MBP, but I still have concerns as my mid 2009 MBP displays poor thermal management and runs quite warm, sometimes even hot.

Time will tell....🙂
 
hotelfive said:
Thanks for all the quick replies...Again sorry with the stupid questions...One more here though 🙂 Can I simply add a 4 gig stick to the existing pre-installed ram or do I have to get two of the same, 4 gig sticks?
Click to expand...

depends if they put 1 4gig ram or 2 2gig ram. i wouldn't be suprised if they use 2 2gig.
 
hotelfive said:
Thanks for all the quick replies...Again sorry with the stupid questions...One more here though 🙂 Can I simply add a 4 gig stick to the existing pre-installed ram or do I have to get two of the same, 4 gig sticks?
Click to expand...

You need 2x4GB as MBPs come with 2x2GB pre-installed
 
arachn1d said:
??? It'll cost you the same amount to upgrade to 8gb aftermarket. 400+ (newegg) and low quality ones mind you.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but you can sell the 4GB of RAM that came with your MBP on Craigslist/ebay to help offset the cost of the 8GB you buy from NewEgg... 😉
 
Hellhammer said:
Yeah, but I still don't get what you meant by that 😕 Sure the i5 is better bang for your buck as i7 is pretty small upgrade as you only get 1MB more cache and few hundred MHz
Click to expand...

Faster clock means a bit, 1MB cache not enough to pay more for a CPU. Stick with i5.
 
i7s have hyperthreading, i5s don't, that's the real difference between the two. i5s are just i7s without hyperthreading basically (though according to Apples site these i5s do have HT, which I don't know to believe or not).
 
Not that many options really as per usual with Apple hardware (not complaining). If you want the i5 go for the low end 15" (153MHz isn't worth the extra $$ if you ask me), if you want i7 go for the high end 15 or 17. Though I do not know how OS X acts with hyperthreading (does it need to be coded for, does it do as big a job as it does on the windows platform?). Though as a side note, I can say hyperthreading increases temperatures by about 10-15c and power drain, don't know what it does to the mobile i7s.
 
DesmoPilot said:
i7s have hyperthreading, i5s don't, that's the real difference between the two. i5s are just i7s without hyperthreading basically (though according to Apples site these i5s do have HT, which I don't know to believe or not).
Click to expand...

According to everything I can find (including http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/performance.html), both the i5 and i7 have hyper-threading. The biggest difference I've seen, other than the 130MHz clockspeed and 1MB cache difference is that the i5 is artificially capped to 3.06GHz turbo, whereas the i7 can reach 3.33GHz. I'm pondering which I want too. **edited the i5 turbo speed, thanks irrational, in your spazzy "there is something wrong on the intarwebs" way 😉 **
 
Arrrrrrggggggh!
Arrrrrrggggggh!
Arrrrrrggggggh!!!!

OK, enough!!!! I've been listening (reading) too much BS and speculation in the course of this thread... I've listened to how the only difference is the 1MB extra of L3 cache and the 130MHz clock speed. This is right. I've heard so much preposterous nonsense that I am gonna break it down for you babies:

Code: 
Name			Intel® Core™ i5-540M	Intel® Core™ i7-620M
====================================================================
Code Name		Arrandale		Arrandale
Status			Launched		Launched
Launch Date		Q1'10			Q1'10
Processor #		i5-540M			i7-620M
# of Cores		2			2
# of Threads		4			4
Clock Speed		2.53 GHz		2.66 GHz
Max Turbo 		3.066 GHz		3.333 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache	3 MB 			4 MB
Bus/Core Ratio		19			20
Bus Type		DMI			DMI
System Bus		2.5 GT/s		2.5 GT/s
Instruction Set		64-bit			64-bit
Instruction Set Ext.	SSE4.1, SSE4.2		SSE4.1, SSE4.2
Embedded		No			Yes
Suppl. SKU		No			No
Lithography		32 nm			32 nm
Max TDP			35 W			35 W
Budgetary Price		$257.00			$332.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Memory Specifications
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Max Memory Size		8 GB			8 GB
Memory Types		DDR3-800/1066		DDR3-800/1066
# of Memory Channels	2			2
Max Memory Bandwidth	17.1 GB/s		17.1 GB/s
Physical Address Ext	36-bit			36-bit
ECC Memory Supported	No			No

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Graphics Specifications
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Integrated Graphics		Yes		Yes
Intel® HD Graphics		Yes		Yes
Intel® HD Graphics 
    Dynamic Frequency		Yes		Yes
Graphics Base Frequency		500 MHz		500 MHz
Graphics Max Dyn Freq.		766 MHz		766 MHz
Intel® Flexible 
    Display Interface		Yes		Yes
Intel® Clear Video 
    Technology			Yes		Yes
Intel® Clear Video 
    HD Technology		Yes		Yes
Dual Display Capable		Yes		Yes
Macrovision* License 
    Required			No		No

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Intel® Turbo Boost		Yes		Yes
Intel® Hyper-Threading		Yes		Yes
Intel® Virtualization		Yes		Yes
Intel® Virtualization 
    for Directed I/O (VT-d)	Yes		Yes
Intel® Trusted Execution	Yes		Yes
AES New Instructions		Yes		Yes
Intel® 64			Yes		Yes
Idle States			Yes		Yes
Enhanced Intel® Speedstep 	Yes		Yes
Thermal Monitoring 		Yes		Yes
Intel® Fast Memory Access	Yes		Yes
Intel® Flex Memory Access	Yes		Yes
Execute Disable Bit		Yes		Yes

As you can see, appart from the Processor Number, the Clock Speed and the L3 Level Cache Size, other differences are Max Turbo Frequency, Bus/Core Ratio and intriguingly the fact that the i7 version is Embedded.

😎
 
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