Macbook Pro i5 3.1Ghz vs i7 2.5Ghz

[absolutic]

Hi I am looking at Macbook Pros, and with the specs that I need (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) in 2017 models Either i5 3.1GHZ or i7 2.5GHz will cost me $2199 new. There is also apple refurbished 3.3GHZ i7 2016 version with same specs on apple site, but it will cost me more because of the sales tax. I could care less about touch bar.

So between i5 with 3.1GHZ and i7 with 2.5GHZ, which one would you pick? What's faster?
the Macbook will be used by my wife for uploading and rendering videos, likely in 1080p and 4K, that are later going to go on youtube...

 

[kschendel]

There was a thread on this not too long ago. The i5 will generally be faster for most use cases, most of the time. The i7 can boost to a higher clock, but it won't hold it indefinitely; once there is sufficient heat build-up from the boosted clock speed, it will throttle and the base clock for the i7 is slower than the i5. So basically the i7 is best for very bursty loads, and rendering is not one of those. I think I'd get the i5 unless someone can show solid evidence to the contrary.

 

[kohlson]

Where cores, hyper threading, and turbo boost can help is "all-in" processing. This is things like video encoding - Handbrake, for example, does an excellent job of using all the available cores. Most apps or use cases don't use all cores, so theoretically, they are faster. Speed (performance / throughput) is a complex thing to predict, as it depends on many factors. Are these relatively short videos, or 30-45 minutes productions? You should be able to save a few minutes with an i7. Handbrake is often used in benchmarking (Macworld, when it did these things).

 

[kschendel]

As was pointed out in the other forum thread, the dual core i5's can run 4 threads just like the dual core i7's. You don't get a threading benefit out of the i7's until you move to the 4-core units (i7 runs 8 threads, the quad i5's are limited to 4 threads).