Macbook Pro 13" Base Model vs High End

[bockscar]

Currently torn between the two.

Based on Geekbench benchmarks, they're at 7287 and 8605 respectively. Just a 18% difference in CPU speed.

I'm not too bothered about the difference in hard drive space as I'll take it out and put in an SSD some time in the near future.

The only situation that CPU performance is important for me is when I'm virtualizing Windows (Parallels/VM).

Anyone able to share if the better i7 will be a difference in making virtualization a smoother experience? I've read that the SSD is a bigger factor in running smooth virtualization.

Other than that I cant think of any situation that is CPU intensive. Not even Autocad, Matlab or C++.

Would getting the i7 be advisable in this case?

 

[mac.fanatic]

I'm not too bothered about the difference in hard drive space as I'll take it out and put in an SSD some time in the near future.

I'm in the same situation as you. Can you explain why SSD makes a big difference for virtualization? I am thinking about getting the higher end thirteen inch pro for me and run virtual Windows on it.

 

[bockscar]

I'm in the same situation as you. Can you explain why SSD makes a big difference for virtualization? I am thinking about getting the higher end thirteen inch pro for me and run virtual Windows on it.

I am not fully sure if SSD is the difference. I have however read some SSD reviews on Amazon and someone said it takes a much lesser time to boot up his Windows on virtualization.

Granted, this is just boot up time being faster. Just like SSDs helping OS X boot up faster.

Perfomance while doing work via virtualization? I dont know about that. Still waiting for response from others if a better CPU speed makes the difference.

 

[Jb07]

I don't virtualize, but an SSD speeds up everything. So an SSD will very likely help keep things running smoothly while virtualizing.
Also, I think more RAM would be a better upgrade to have when virtualizing rather than a processor upgrade.