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I'm a "believer" in the MHz/GHz myth...
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As everyone keeps stating, go the i5. The i5 comes with the ATI 4850 graphics which is a $100 upgrade in itself (if I am not mistaken), and so the i5 is really only another $200 upgrade and with that you get twice the number of cores. Further mhz vs mhz, core vs core, the i5 beats the Core2duo. I haven't kept up exactly how much faster the i5 is compared to the Core2duos (with cores/speed being equal) but the i5 would at least make up for the 400mhz difference in speed and you still end up with 2 more cores. With the advancements in Snow Leopard (i.e. Grand Central Dispatch), OSX has the ability to take advantage of more cores with a greater ease/efficiency. The i5 will hold its value longer.
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
all apple computers are holding their value for a couple years so it doesnt make a big difference if you choose the core duo or i5 you might get in 3 years 100 more for the i5 as you might get for the core duo in a couple years , but then you have spend 300 more for it , and maybe upgraded ram too
so in real world it does not pay out , seen the 24" going downhill in price now
as nobody wants to spend what the sellers are asking , some still think a mac goes up in value opposed to losing value over time when they try to sell ,at least here in the uk ,where people think they can still get the original retailprice after 2 years usage 😀
so in real world it does not pay out , seen the 24" going downhill in price now
as nobody wants to spend what the sellers are asking , some still think a mac goes up in value opposed to losing value over time when they try to sell ,at least here in the uk ,where people think they can still get the original retailprice after 2 years usage 😀
Still, with Apple doing the old el Switcheroonie with their models every six or seven months, finding the right moment to commit can be difficult.
They added new CPUs to the Mini range last March and October. Does that mean we can expect a quad-core Mini in March/April, maybe...?
[shrug]
They added new CPUs to the Mini range last March and October. Does that mean we can expect a quad-core Mini in March/April, maybe...?
[shrug]
I found the speed tests at Macworld useful when deciding which one to purchase. It's not just a simplistic bar chart but a table showing the different processors performing different tasks with the times in mins/secs on how fast they performed those tasks.
Here's a link to the speed tests - http://www.marketingtactics.com/Speedmark/
Here's a link to the original article - http://www.macworld.com/article/143970/2009/11/core15_imac.html
I decided to go with the i5 as I will be doing quite a bit of video editing. Looking at the table you can see that the difference between the processors on basic tasks isn't very much, the i5/i7 gain a few seconds here or there. But on more advanced tasks such as compressing a .mov file or ripping a dvd or rendering a scene the leap in performance from the core 2 duo to the quad core i5/i7 is quite big. The i5/i7 performs a whole minute+ faster on such tasks. However, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the i5 and i7. The i7 is faster but not much faster so I went with the i5 and couldn't be happier. Hope this helps.
Here's a link to the speed tests - http://www.marketingtactics.com/Speedmark/
Here's a link to the original article - http://www.macworld.com/article/143970/2009/11/core15_imac.html
I decided to go with the i5 as I will be doing quite a bit of video editing. Looking at the table you can see that the difference between the processors on basic tasks isn't very much, the i5/i7 gain a few seconds here or there. But on more advanced tasks such as compressing a .mov file or ripping a dvd or rendering a scene the leap in performance from the core 2 duo to the quad core i5/i7 is quite big. The i5/i7 performs a whole minute+ faster on such tasks. However, there doesn't appear to be much difference between the i5 and i7. The i7 is faster but not much faster so I went with the i5 and couldn't be happier. Hope this helps.
MacHamster68
macrumors 68040
the test shows that the i7 is really only seconds in front of the i5 ,and the core duo is not to far of the i5 , so you definitely need a precise stopwatch to notice the difference 😕
the core duo even beats the i5 and i7 when it comes to unzipping a 2 gb file 😀
the core duo even beats the i5 and i7 when it comes to unzipping a 2 gb file 😀
Hellhammer
Moderator emeritus
I had a similar issue over 4 years ago when I bought the last of the Power Macs. I spent extra and bought the quad core. Despite the fact we're two iterations ahead with the operating system, it still screams for my usage (web design & development).
At work I use a dual core with a similar clock speed and because of the way I work (many apps open at once) my 4 year old machine kicks its arse.
You may think you don't do many things at the same time, but open Mail, Safari and iPhoto or iMovie at once and try swapping between them while they're busy. A good example would be exporting a movie from iMovie then trying to do something else while you wait.
Rough guidelines:
The more cores you have, the more things you can do at once
The faster the speed (MHz), the faster any one of those thing will be performed
RAM is just as important since that's where the data is stored before it goes to the processor.
I'd go with the i5 because:
(a) 4 cores. Multitasking1
(b) Speed boost -- it will shut down two of them and run the remaining two higher than its clock speed when needed
(c) The cash saved on the i7 will get you a few more gigs of memory to throw in there
At work I use a dual core with a similar clock speed and because of the way I work (many apps open at once) my 4 year old machine kicks its arse.
You may think you don't do many things at the same time, but open Mail, Safari and iPhoto or iMovie at once and try swapping between them while they're busy. A good example would be exporting a movie from iMovie then trying to do something else while you wait.
Rough guidelines:
The more cores you have, the more things you can do at once
The faster the speed (MHz), the faster any one of those thing will be performed
RAM is just as important since that's where the data is stored before it goes to the processor.
I'd go with the i5 because:
(a) 4 cores. Multitasking1
(b) Speed boost -- it will shut down two of them and run the remaining two higher than its clock speed when needed
(c) The cash saved on the i7 will get you a few more gigs of memory to throw in there