iMac i7 to rMBP i5, will I notice the speed difference?

[djrod]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of trading my 2009 i7 SSD iMac for a 2012 i5 13" rMBP+thunderbolt display.

I'm a web designer and these are the programs I use the most: Coda, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS6, xCode, the iWork suite and two Parallels VM running Windows 7 and 8 for testing purposes.

I know the i7 is a more powerful than the i5 rMBP, geekbench results are something like 8000 vs 6000. But with the kind of apps I use I don't know if I'm wasting the i7 power and the i5 would suit me just fine.

Another doubt I have is fan noise, my iMac is almost completely silent, I plan to use the rMBP in clamshell mode when I'm not using it outside my home office, how good is the refrigeration in these things, will it run cool and silent when plugged into the TBD?

Ah, I don't do any gaming, only work stuff.

Sorry for the brick I just wrote

 

[Neodym]

If the 15" rMBP can be used as blueprint for the 13" rMBP's cooling system (which I assume it generally can), then it will be inaudible under "normal" load. Significant involvement of the GPU will eventually make the fans audible, but it's far from being disturbing (and I'm picky when it comes to noise).

Can't say how the iMac fares in comparison, but I somehow doubt a 2009 iMac would have a much (if at all) better cooling system than a 2012 rMBP - and if it actually has, the advanced components in the 2012 machines would probably make up for it.

 

[WilliamG]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of trading my 2009 i7 SSD iMac for a 2012 i5 13" rMBP+thunderbolt display.

I'm a web designer and these are the programs I use the most: Coda, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS6, xCode, the iWork suite and two Parallels VM running Windows 7 and 8 for testing purposes.

I know the i7 is a more powerful than the i5 rMBP, geekbench results are something like 8000 vs 6000. But with the kind of apps I use I don't know if I'm wasting the i7 power and the i5 would suit me just fine.

Another doubt I have is fan noise, my iMac is almost completely silent, I plan to use the rMBP in clamshell mode when I'm not using it outside my home office, how good is the refrigeration in these things, will it run cool and silent when plugged into the TBD?

Sorry for the brick I just wrote

I just sold my 2009 i7 SSD 27" iMac, so I can help you there. I also had a "base" 2012 rMBP 13" MBP in my possession for a little bit. I'd say from my experience that my 2009 iMac felt quite a bit faster, but it also had 16GB of RAM in it. The SSD in my iMac was slower, however, being a Vertex 120GB (the original Vertex with ~200MB/s read/writes).

Still, my iMac felt faster in every way, especially graphics capabilities. I couldn't run Diablo 3 very well on the rMBP, but it ran just fine on my iMac, even with the crappy 4850 ATI card in there.

Noise-wise, I'd say the rMBP is even quieter than my 2009 iMac was, and as you know that system is VERY quiet, especially with an SSD in it. The rMBP is uncannily quiet. I had to put my ear against the rear vents to hear anything when just doing "normal" things.

So, overall I think you'd be fine with the rMBP 13" + Thunderbolt display, but it certainly won't feel as fast as your iMac. I reckon the next-gen 13" rMBP will be quite a bit more powerful. It really needs to be with that ridiculously amazing resolution.

 

[djrod]

I just sold my 2009 i7 SSD 27" iMac, so I can help you there. I also had a "base" 2012 rMBP 13" MBP in my possession for a little bit. I'd say from my experience that my 2009 iMac felt quite a bit faster, but it also had 16GB of RAM in it. The SSD in my iMac was slower, however, being a Vertex 120GB (the original Vertex with ~200MB/s read/writes).

Still, my iMac felt faster in every way, especially graphics capabilities. I couldn't run Diablo 3 very well on the rMBP, but it ran just fine on my iMac, even with the crappy 4850 ATI card in there.

Noise-wise, I'd say the rMBP is even quieter than my 2009 iMac was, and as you know that system is VERY quiet, especially with an SSD in it. The rMBP is uncannily quiet. I had to put my ear against the rear vents to hear anything when just doing "normal" things.

So, overall I think you'd be fine with the rMBP 13" + Thunderbolt display, but it certainly won't feel as fast as your iMac. I reckon the next-gen 13" rMBP will be quite a bit more powerful. It really needs to be with that ridiculously amazing resolution.

Hi there doppelgänger , my iMac SSD is a crappy one too, about 150 reads.

I don't do gaming in my Mac, so I don't think I would notice the worse GPU

 

[WilliamG]

Hi there doppelgänger , my iMac SSD is a crappy one too, about 150 reads.

I don't do gaming in my Mac, so I don't think I would notice the worse GPU

Probably not then. To be honest, the 2009 i7 iMac is still a veritable speed demon even by today's standards, so losing a bit of that and gaining portability is excellent. I'd say go get one, - you always have 14 days to return it when you buy it from Apple.