rMBP 13 i5 or i7?

[lsed]

So I have an option to purchase the rMB P 13" and I'm looking at the 2.6 Ghz i5 w 256 GB

At the same time I'm wondering if it's necessary to have the i7 3.0.

I dont need the added firepower as I won't be gaming on the machine and the price difference is negligible as a company is subsidizing most of it. But I intend to use it for 3 years, and hopefully more. That's why the i7 could do me good over the long run.


I'm just concerned if battery life will be significantly decreased by the i7.

Only thing is its a CTO so it would take me 4 weeks as I'm purchasing from a retailer that will give me free Office for Mac. But my current MB P is working fine so don't need it in a hurry.

Should I just go for the i7?

 

[F1 Fan]

So I have an option to purchase the rMB P 13" and I'm looking at the 2.6 Ghz i5 w 256 GB

At the same time I'm wondering if it's necessary to have the i7 3.0.

I dont need the added firepower as I won't be gaming on the machine and the price difference is negligible as a company is subsidizing most of it. But I intend to use it for 3 years, and hopefully more. That's why the i7 could do me good over the long run.


I'm just concerned if battery life will be significantly decreased by the i7.

Only thing is its a CTO so it would take me 4 weeks as I'm purchasing from a retailer that will give me free Office for Mac. But my current MB P is working fine so don't need it in a hurry.

Should I just go for the i7?

It looks like the only real question here is about the battery life.

This thread might help a little (although I don't think there's a definitive answer. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1203118/

If you can find out what the battery hit is likely to be then it's entirely up to you whether you think the performance and resale value boosts justify the battery hit and cost (however small).

 

[Brian Y]

The battery will be hit slightly - but it won't be major during normal use. Check the power usage of the two different CPUs to get a % difference - I can't imaging that, under load, it'll be more than 5%.

Unless you're doing any heavy computation, you won't need the i7.

 

[maflynn]

If you have a seller willing to give you MS Office and you're planning on getting an MBP in the near future, then I'd go for it.

As for the i7 vs. i5, I'm not sure you'll notice a huge difference in performance given what your stated usage. What computer is the retailer offering you the i5 or i7?

 

[lsed]

If you have a seller willing to give you MS Office and you're planning on getting an MBP in the near future, then I'd go for it.

As for the i7 vs. i5, I'm not sure you'll notice a huge difference in performance given what your stated usage. What computer is the retailer offering you the i5 or i7?

I'm just buying it at standard price and getting reimbursed 60% of the cost from the company.

Hence the upgrade is costs around $60?

I'm just wondering if down the road in the 2 - 4 years the MB P would still be powerful enough for day to day usage if I take the i5 2.6

 

[vatter69]

There is no such thing as a too fast computer. 60 bucks for 400 more mhz and 1mb cache is a no brainer.

 

[maflynn]

I'm just wondering if down the road in the 2 - 4 years the MB P would still be powerful enough for day to day usage if I take the i5 2.6

Without question, even my wife's C2D from 2010 is still powerful for her to do stuff with (office, surfing etc). I have little doubt that the current machines will be powerful enough for the years to come

 

[lsed]

So in the end I bought the 2.6 Ghz as the 3.0 i7 CTO doesnt come with the free Office for mac.

Had the chance to purchase the older 2.5 GHz (out of my pocket would have been $30 cheaper) but I thought what the heck, might as well get the latest version.

Thanks for the input guys. Truth is my current C2D 2.4 Ghz is still going strong and with an SSD I very rarely feel I need a speed boost (only when working on photoshop sometimes).

On the other hand, kind of wondering if I should have gotten the MB A and bumped everything up to the max. (I travel a lot so the weight reduction is quite a different).

But overall very happy with my new mac!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[dukebound85]

While it is always tempting to satisfy the geek in me with wanting the latest HW, I decided to use this strategy

Instead of spending hundreds on getting the max proc/configuration, I would rather buy the base version take that savings and put it toward the purchase of a new base version a few years later. This way, yhe money will have a greater impact in terms of performance

 

[lsed]

Normally I usually buy the base and then do upgrades of RAM / HDD myself.
But with the retina versions it is not possible anymore.

Biggest difference this time is the 60% subsidy from my company. Hence it gave me much more leeway with spending.

 

[KPOM]

So in the end I bought the 2.6 Ghz as the 3.0 i7 CTO doesnt come with the free Office for mac.

Had the chance to purchase the older 2.5 GHz (out of my pocket would have been $30 cheaper) but I thought what the heck, might as well get the latest version.

Thanks for the input guys. Truth is my current C2D 2.4 Ghz is still going strong and with an SSD I very rarely feel I need a speed boost (only when working on photoshop sometimes).

On the other hand, kind of wondering if I should have gotten the MB A and bumped everything up to the max. (I travel a lot so the weight reduction is quite a different).

But overall very happy with my new mac!

Thanks again everyone!

I think you'll be happy with the rMBP. I had an 11.6" 2.0GHz i7 2012 MacBook Air. Unfortunately I lost it in December while traveling. The good news is that I had insurance. I decided to go with the 2.5GHz i5 13" rMBP, and am very happy with it. Sure, I miss the ultraportability of the 11.6" Air (the rMBP weighs 50% more), but the screen is well worth it. The base 2.5GHz is, on paper, about on par with the 2.0GHz ULV i7, but in practice I find it to be snappier, perhaps because the rMBP has better thermals than the Air and doesn't throttle as much. Heck, I hardly ever hear the fans on the rMBP while my Air (as much as I loved it - having owned various Air models since February 2008) sounded like it was about to take off whenever I did anything even moderately intensive like starting up a virtual machine.

 

[Applefanboy8153]

While it is always tempting to satisfy the geek in me with wanting the latest HW, I decided to use this strategy

Instead of spending hundreds on getting the max proc/configuration, I would rather buy the base version take that savings and put it toward the purchase of a new base version a few years later. This way, yhe money will have a greater impact in terms of performance

Seconded, I am using the same strategy.

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So I have an option to purchase the rMB P 13" and I'm looking at the 2.6 Ghz i5 w 256 GB

At the same time I'm wondering if it's necessary to have the i7 3.0.

I dont need the added firepower as I won't be gaming on the machine and the price difference is negligible as a company is subsidizing most of it. But I intend to use it for 3 years, and hopefully more. That's why the i7 could do me good over the long run.


I'm just concerned if battery life will be significantly decreased by the i7.

Only thing is its a CTO so it would take me 4 weeks as I'm purchasing from a retailer that will give me free Office for Mac. But my current MB P is working fine so don't need it in a hurry.

Should I just go for the i7?

I am sorry but we just cant help you unless you tell us about your usage!