Processor vs Ram

[mankar4]

Hi guys, I'm going to buy a 13" rmbp when it is released. Assuming there will be i5, i7, 8gb and 16gb RAM options, I am planning on getting either

i5 + 16gb or i7 + 8gb

I will not use the machine for gaming.
I will use it occasionally for photoshop/illustrator/xcode for app programming.
I will use it regularly for analyzing large data sets in Stata, R, and Excel.
I will use it all the time for web surfing and microsoft office.

I usually have 9 desktops with R, Stata, Excel, Word, Preview, Acrobat, iTunes, Chrome and Safari with 20-30 tabs running, simultaneously.

What do you think?

 

[w00t951]

Probably the RAM, although you should spring for both if you can. If you're buying a Mac, an extra $100 for either the i7 or the RAM isn't very much.

 

[mankar4]

Probably the RAM, although you should spring for both if you can. If you're buying a Mac, an extra $100 for either the i7 or the RAM isn't very much.

Oh yeah, if its only 100 bucks for the processor I'll do that as well.

 

[Dark Void]

It's still kind of hard to say not knowing any of the specifics of the processor, but I would say i5 + 16GB sounds more practical. When Multi-Tasking with basic applications, your RAM is more likely to bottleneck you then your Processor is.

 

[w00t951]

It's still kind of hard to say not knowing any of the specifics of the processor, but I would say i5 + 16GB sounds more practical. When Multi-Tasking with basic applications, your RAM is more likely to bottleneck you then your Processor is.

Depends, I have a feeling that an i5 will be offered as a dual core while the i7 will be a quad core. Haswell makes this possible.

In that case, I'd say to jump for the processor and the RAM. Traditionally, you could never upgrade the processor and always upgrade the RAM, but with the Retina models, you should probably get both.

 

[whitedragon101]

It's still kind of hard to say not knowing any of the specifics of the processor, but I would say i5 + 16GB sounds more practical. When Multi-Tasking with basic applications, your RAM is more likely to bottleneck you then your Processor is.

Ditto

 

[TRAV9614]

I have a feeling that an i5 will be offered as a dual core while the i7 will be a quad core.

I really doubt that the i5 will be dual core and the i7 will be quad. I think both will be quad core or both will be dual core.

If they offer a dual core i5 and a dual core i7 I would go for the i7 for a faster clock speed and hyperthreading. If both the processors are quad core i7s just get the cheaper one. I thnk when you get it you should try to upgrade the ram to 16 and the processor , but I would do the ram first.

 

[Dark Void]

Depends, I have a feeling that an i5 will be offered as a dual core while the i7 will be a quad core. Haswell makes this possible.

Like I said, it's tough to say without knowing any of the specifics of the Processor. If the i7 is Quad-core and the i5 is Dual-core, obviously the i7 would be better if you are in need of processing power. However, the OP listed some common applications where a dual core i5 or i7 would be plenty. I run similar applications at the same time (Safari + iTunes + Photoshop) on a Core 2 Duo just fine.

If, however, the difference between the processors is maybe some cache here and there or a few tenths of GHz, then 8 more GB of RAM will be a lot better for multitasking in my opinion.

It should be monitored in any case. If the user is not utilizing close to 8GB RAM then 16GB should be a secondary concern in relation to the processor unless future-proofing a non-upgradeable computer is a priority, as RAM usage is more likely to expand in comparison to the need of a stronger processor I would argue. It all depends on the user anyway, not to mention we are speaking in terms of speculation.