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Is the Sandy Bridge processor THAT much better than the current i5?

X

xxplosive1984

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2009
104
0
Dallas, TX
I may just bite the bullet and get my 15" i5 right now. It seems like the current i5 is pretty powerful in its own right.

Are most people holding out for a potential design change or because Intel's latest will be included?
 
there is a bigger change for the i7 quadcores, but all sandy bridge processors should be faster (some more than others) but with less power draw and obviously much better integrated graphics (if you care about that). most importantly however IMO are the chipsets that bring sata III and 1333mhz ram support.

well, right now they arent bringing anything...
 
bossmanjunior said:
there is a bigger change for the i7 quadcores, but all sandy bridge processors should be faster (some more than others) but with less power draw and obviously much better integrated graphics (if you care about that). most importantly however IMO are the chipsets that bring sata III and 1333mhz ram support.

well, right now they arent bringing anything...
Click to expand...

Yes, SATA III support will be awesome. Sandforce will have a controller out this year that can utilize 4 of the 6Gb/s that SATA III is capable of. Drop one of those in a SB based MBP and it will fly.
 
I5 is a strong processor - i doubt the difference to SB will be noticeable.

Core 2 Duo -> SB is much more worthwhile.
 
vipergts2207 said:
Yes, SATA III support will be awesome. Sandforce will have a controller out this year that can utilize 4 of the 6Gb/s that SATA III is capable of. Drop one of those in a SB based MBP and it will fly.
Click to expand...

+1 Wait for the new refresh and assess your options. You can always get a refurb of the 2010 if you for some reason don't like what they've done in the refresh (highly unlikely). I would wait it out if you don't need a computer now; no real reason not to honestly.
 
Some preliminary testing on quad-core sandybridge mobile processors is showing 25-50% improvement over last years models at roughly the same power usage. Dual-cores should offer better power savings and also significant performance increase.

If you can afford to wait, I would wait for the new sandy bridge...
 
d-boy86 said:
Most likely the new MBP's will NOT be redesigned.
Click to expand...

I hope not, I love the current design.

All I hope for is an updated processor for the 13" and maybe a new price point for the 15". Good thing is I have a few months till I even have enough money.
 
Question:
I currently have a Dell laptop (august 2008) with Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2,53Ghz, 4GBs RAM, and it runs everything I want smoothly (some hiccoughs here and there). Windows however is giving me headaches.

I mostly do programming, webdesign, SQL, I plan to do some video editing(iMovie), bit of photoshop, surfing..

Will the i5 2,4Ghz be way enough or would I greatly profit from Sandy Bridges?
 
Pooki said:
Question:
I currently have a Dell laptop (august 2008) with Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2,53Ghz, 4GBs RAM, and it runs everything I want smoothly (some hiccoughs here and there). Windows however is giving me headaches.

I mostly do programming, webdesign, SQL, I plan to do some video editing(iMovie), bit of photoshop, surfing..

Will the i5 2,4Ghz be way enough or would I greatly profit from Sandy Bridges?
Click to expand...

The i5 2.4 will be way enough, though you will also profit from the Sandy Bridge processor. I've read changes will be anywhere between 10-25% in speed (I am more inclined to believe changes will be closer to 10%). Most casual users won't be able to tell the difference in speed. An application that used to open in 2 seconds will now open in 1.8 seconds... Is that really noticeable for a casual user? I think not. If you are encoding/editing larger files it is another story.

I am waiting for Sandy Bridge, simply because I've already been waiting for months and months and months and it makes no sense for me to give up and buy now!
 
There is also the fact that the price point will stay the same or a little higher, but you get more life out of the MBP bought when the SB processor is released.
 
aCondor said:
I am waiting for Sandy Bridge, simply because I've already been waiting for months and months and months and it makes no sense for me to give up and buy now!
Click to expand...

+1. I really want a mac but I'm just thinking, the current model was out when I bought my current laptop (toshiba qosmio), which means I'll be throwing away some money for something I could have gotten cheaper long time ago.
What bothers me is the new graphics from intel, I really hope they aren't a downgrade from the 320m...
 
1. SATA 3.
2. 1333MHz RAM.
3. Better integrated graphics.
4. Overall much better performance.

Just the SATA 3 alone is worth IMO...
 
aCondor said:
The i5 2.4 will be way enough, though you will also profit from the Sandy Bridge processor. I've read changes will be anywhere between 10-25% in speed (I am more inclined to believe changes will be closer to 10%). Most casual users won't be able to tell the difference in speed. An application that used to open in 2 seconds will now open in 1.8 seconds... Is that really noticeable for a casual user? I think not. If you are encoding/editing larger files it is another story.

I am waiting for Sandy Bridge, simply because I've already been waiting for months and months and months and it makes no sense for me to give up and buy now!
Click to expand...

You buy a Mac either for personal use or for professional use. At any point in time, you can calculate what it will cost you to buy a new model (either the price minus what you get on eBay for the old one, or the price minus the value of keeping your old Mac as a second machine). Say the result is $x. And then you decide: Does the new Mac make you $x happier (private use) or $x richer (professional use). That's the point where I buy and where everyone should buy.

So I will never _wait_ for a new machine. I may decide that the current model doesn't give me enough added value for the cost, so I don't buy it. Or it _does_ give me enough added value for the cost, then I buy it.
 
It has been mentioned many times but I guess we can repeat it. It's worth the wait because the new MBP will be faster but it comes down to whether you need the extra speed. If you don't do any crazy multitasking just buy now.
 
Pooki said:
Question:
I currently have a Dell laptop (august 2008) with Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2,53Ghz, 4GBs RAM, and it runs everything I want smoothly (some hiccoughs here and there). Windows however is giving me headaches.

I mostly do programming, webdesign, SQL, I plan to do some video editing(iMovie), bit of photoshop, surfing..

Will the i5 2,4Ghz be way enough or would I greatly profit from Sandy Bridges?
Click to expand...

You'll profit from Sandy Bridge. If you are doing video editing and Photoshop, things that benefit from powerful cpus and gobs of ram then you want as much power as you can get. Here is a review of Sandy Bridge Mobile:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4084/intels-sandy-bridge-upheaval-in-the-mobile-landscape/12
 
jmpnop said:
1. SATA 3.
2. 1333MHz RAM.
3. Better integrated graphics.
4. Overall much better performance.

Just the SATA 3 alone is worth IMO...
Click to expand...

It completely depends on what you do. I am excited about seeing SATA3 (6.0), but realistically, most users (probably myself included) will see no difference. Currently, SSDs which read and write around 300/s sequential max out SATA2, but they rarely run at this high of a speed other than benchmark testing. For the future, I am sure this will change, and as of now, I am sure that some users are running programs that max out SATA2 constantly, but I can't imagine it is many. I hope to see the next MBP do between 16-32GB of RAM, regardless of bus speed.
 
I just love the idea of getting the absolute best thing out there right when it comes out. That's worth some money to me. "Well, that's stupid." To YOU, maybe. That's worth something to me. "That's just all about elitist bragging rights." Pretty much. That's fun. ;) lol.
 
I've never been able to say 'jump in' the second something comes out due to initial problems. I think the current issue with SB shows this, but this is not the first time a premier update has had a faulty design (with that said, the fault on the SB is minimal but it is still a design fault).
 
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