MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 - i5 vs i7 Batterylife and performance!

[SSD-GUY]

Hi guys,

Sorry for yet another thread on this matter.

I've searched around, both on the threads and the wider web, and found that the difference between the high end i5 (2.6) and i7 (2.8) is roughly anything between 0 - 20% based on what you are doing. I've found the i7 excels in multitasking and the extra MB of cache can also help.

However, what I haven't found out is how much battery life takes a hit when comparing these two models. If I was going to be doing anything remotely strenuous, I would more than likely be plugged into a power source.

Therefore, for normal tasks, like Microsoft office, general web browsing etc, would I notice a difference between the high end i5, and the i7?

Also, I know the boost to 2.6 will help the GPU side of things as the clock speed is raised, however, apart from raising the clock speed, will having the i7 compared to the high end i5 be beneficial for gpu?

Thanks

 

[lagisibuk]

Hi guys,

Sorry for yet another thread on this matter.

I've searched around, both on the threads and the wider web, and found that the difference between the high end i5 (2.6) and i7 (2.8) is roughly anything between 0 - 20% based on what you are doing. I've found the i7 excels in multitasking and the extra MB of cache can also help.

However, what I haven't found out is how much battery life takes a hit when comparing these two models. If I was going to be doing anything remotely strenuous, I would more than likely be plugged into a power source.

Therefore, for normal tasks, like Microsoft office, general web browsing etc, would I notice a difference between the high end i5, and the i7?

Also, I know the boost to 2.6 will help the GPU side of things as the clock speed is raised, however, apart from raising the clock speed, will having the i7 compared to the high end i5 be beneficial for gpu?

Thanks

the different think about core i5 and core i7 is "number of core".
macbook pro 13 i5 = 2 core (dual)
macbook pro 13 i7 = 2 core (dual)
macbook pro 15 i7 = 4 core (quad)

this performance will be significant when using multitask (photosop, streaming, emulator)...
for standar usage, 2.5Ghz and 2.9Ghz will be same (like browsing, office activity)

for battre life, i think will same for 2,6 and 2,8... basicly their architecture is same

 

[alphaod]

the different think about core i5 and core i7 is "number of core".
macbook pro 13 i5 = 2 core (dual)
macbook pro 13 i7 = 2 core (dual)
macbook pro 15 i7 = 4 core (quad)

this performance will be significant when using multitask (photosop, streaming, emulator)...
for standar usage, 2.5Ghz and 2.9Ghz will be same (like browsing, office activity)

for battre life, i think will same for 2,6 and 2,8... basicly their architecture is same

Both the i5 and the i7 in the 13" MacBook Pro is dual-core.

The only difference is faster clocks and more L3 cache (4MB in the latter verse 3MB in the former). Performance delta is a lot smaller than you think; really it's where does the OP's priorities lie and perhaps his budget. I would get memory and storage space before choosing a faster processor.

Battery life shouldn't be much of an issue. If anything the faster processor will get things done faster meaning more idle time.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

Both the i5 and the i7 in the 13" MacBook Pro is dual-core.

The only difference is faster clocks and more L3 cache (4MB in the latter verse 3MB in the former). Performance delta is a lot smaller than you think; really it's where does the OP's priorities lie and perhaps his budget. I would get memory and storage space before choosing a faster processor.

Battery life shouldn't be much of an issue. If anything the faster processor will get things done faster meaning more idle time.

I keep hearing conflicting stories on that. Something about C4 state or something? I'm a little drunk right now so my memory is hazy but I know there's some discussion about whether higher power equates to more or less battery.

I'll say this: the MBPr 15 with the quad-i7 and all the bells and whistles is a beast.

 

[savourylie]

Here's a link you might find useful:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u/4

The test are not done on Haswell CPUs but I think the result makes sense.

When doing light work both should have the same or really similar battery life and when the work load is increased the i7 model would have up to 18% shorter battery life compared with that of i5, since it's gets more work done with the same amount of time.

I myself ordered the i7 model on Black Friday but they're still getting ready to ship so I can't tell you about the real hours.

 

[AlecMyrddyn]

Until a reviewer takes two rMBP 13" units and does some battery life tests side by side on them, it's going to be hard to say if the i7 has an impact on battery life.

That said, I have a 13"/2.8i7/16/512 and have routinely been getting more than 9 hours of battery. In a typical day I'm running Safari, iPhoto, Pages and Preview. Very low streaming video watching. I don't think you'll notice a battery life difference on the 13" rMBP based on the processor.

 

[Ai-apple]

Until a reviewer takes two rMBP 13" units and does some battery life tests side by side on them, it's going to be hard to say if the i7 has an impact on battery life.

That said, I have a 13"/2.8i7/16/512 and have routinely been getting more than 9 hours of battery. In a typical day I'm running Safari, iPhoto, Pages and Preview. Very low streaming video watching. I don't think you'll notice a battery life difference on the 13" rMBP based on the processor.

I got same spec. and I am getting about 9+ hours of usage on a full charge.

 

[gwsat]

Until a reviewer takes two rMBP 13" units and does some battery life tests side by side on them, it's going to be hard to say if the i7 has an impact on battery life.

That said, I have a 13"/2.8i7/16/512 and have routinely been getting more than 9 hours of battery. In a typical day I'm running Safari, iPhoto, Pages and Preview. Very low streaming video watching. I don't think you'll notice a battery life difference on the 13" rMBP based on the processor.

I got same spec. and I am getting about 9+ hours of usage on a full charge.

Same here, almost. Like you, I have a 13 inch i7 with 512GB of flash storage, although I have only 8GB of RAM. I have been getting at least 9 hours of battery life. For example, I have been using mine on battery power since 8:30 this morning, not continuously but heavily. According to iStat Pro, I still have more than 2 hours of battery life remaining. I should add that I run VMware Fusion and Windows 7 in the virtual machine almost all the time. Don't know what that does to battery life but Fusion is a notorious resource hog in a lot of other ways.

My new machine has crashed twice in the 9 days I have had it, which is a concern, but battery life has certainly not been a concern. It's in a class with my iPad Retina.