rMBP 13 inch - i5/i7 and 8gb/16gb

[monkeysinspace]

Like many others last week after Apple's event, I ordered a new rMBP 13 inch the same day. Waited long enough - no more, right?

I ordered the 2.8 i7/8gb/256gb version. Great, can't wait. Should be here in three days. Wait... should I have gotten 16gb ram instead? Let the contemplations begin.

I'm an engineering student. I do a fair bit of development (MATLAB, web development, sometimes VM into windows, etc.). A power user as some might put it. No video editing though, just some Photoshopping on the side. I'll be using the machine for the next 3-5 years at least, so I thought I'll take the i7. Budget constraints are only allowing me to get the i7+8gb RAM or the 2.6 i5+16gb RAM. Again, my impatience resulted in not waiting for the Anandtech review for a more indepth idea of the benchmarks. Some are saying the i7 only has about 5-7% increase in performance whereas other sources are showing more. Can't get real concrete information.

Now, should I call up apple for an exchange for the 2.6 i5/16gb/256gb? I'm not entirely sure what to do at the moment and I don't know if good ol' Anand will really have a black/white answer for me either.

Also, say I do ask Apple for an exchange - what's the process like? Custom models have to be ordered online, so is it just buying another one and returning one or do they take care of the shipping/exchange. As I haven't gotten the computer in hand yet, does the 14-day return window start at that moment or has it already started? How does it work?

Help me out?

 

[mrmors]

I'm in nearly a similar position to you, I'm about to probably buy a new 13" rMBP, so I've been doing loads of reading on here before pulling the trigger.
The vast majority of people are saying that you'd be better off getting a better, bigger SSD (which the new ones have) and having as much RAM as you can get. Those 2 things seem to be the most important.

By the looks of the benchmarks, the dual-core i7 in the 13" doesn't make that much of a difference over the i5 really, it's when you've got a true quadcore in the 15" i7's that it makes a difference.

I'm looking at getting the top end i5, 512gb, 16gb, I think that's the most bang for my buck.

 

[Meister]

And here goes another ram discussion.
It should be merged with the get 16gigs guys thread.

 

[Jinzen]

Yes, you should have.

I teach for work and have my own personal user account under the same computer, and I'm way past 8GB just having the normal apps open, like Chrome, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, iTunes, some videos etc.

 

[EatingApples]

I'm in the same situation as well. I know I will be going for 16gb of ram and 512 gb of storage, but I am not sure about the i5 vs i7 and whether the i7 uses more battery than the i5 and if the extra performance is worth the extra money or not :S

 

[maflynn]

With the ram being soldered onto the logic board, I also recommend that you go with 16GB, just for the fact you're locked in and cannot change it.

I think 8GB should fit your needs now and the near future, but if you plan on keeping it for 3+ years it may be safer to go with the 16GB option if you can afford it.

 

[monkeysinspace]

Thanks for the replies. I'm probably going to downgrade to 2.6 i5 and get the 16gb RAM. Does anyone know how to go about doing the exchange, however? Call Apple to get the updated one and return the i7 when I get it to the Apple store?

 

[El Salvador]

I'm in the exact same situation.
From the benchmarks the i7 is not much faster than the 2.6 GHz i5 whereas the latter is a bigger step up from the 2.4 GHz i5. For me it was worth it spending 100 bucks extra for an upgraded i5 but not paying another 200 bucks more for the i7. I think the 2.6 GHz i5 is the best bang for the buck.
So that being said, for the same price there's only 2 more choices left: 16GB/256SSD or 8GB/512SSD. I went for the first one (i5 2.6/16/256).

 

[mrmors]

From the look of the geekbench 2/3 scores, the jump from the bottom i5 to the top i5, is about an extra 5%. The difference from the top i5 to the i7 is about 1.5%-7% extra depending if you look at geekbench 2 or 3.

So for me, I wouldn't be paying an extra $300 for a top i5->i7 for an extra 1.5% in performance if that is the case.




geekbench 2

MBP Intel Core i7-4558U
2.8ghz
score 8873

MBP Intel Core i5-4258U
2.4ghz
score 8301

MBP Intel Core i5-4288U
2.6ghz
score 8729




geekbench 3

MBP Intel Core i7-4558U
2.8ghz
single core 3353
multi core 7063

MBP Intel Core i5-4258U
2.4ghz
single core 2959
multi core 6318

MBP Intel Core i5-4288U
2.6ghz
single core 3128
multi core 6651