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Should I return my 13 i7 for the i5?

K

kemel

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 7, 2011
13
0
Hey guys,

I'm still have a few days to return this MBP and was debating whether it would be worth exchanging my i7 for the i5 and getting $400+ back for it? The i7 is running well, but just trying to justify if its worth keeping. I will most likely keep this laptop for a while and it will be used mostly for college, browsing, and light gaming. I got it with the educational discount so only paid 1399, but microcenter is doing the 999 deal for the i5.

So, should I keep the i7 or exchange it for the i5 and get $400+ back?

Thoughts?

Thanks!
 
$400 is a lot of money. The i5 would still be more than sufficient for your needs. My recommendation is to exchange it. :)
 
I don't think you'll notice a huge difference in performance, the savings are significant.
 
I concur. Swap it and get some cash!! =) I have the i5 and it seems fine in terms of speed. For your needs, the i7 might be overkill. Plus, I never really understood why they put an i7 in the 13". It's going to be slowed down by its RAM, HDD and integrated graphics. Without upgrades in those areas, you'll probably never know what the i7 is capable of. That said, for those same reasons, I probably can't justify my upgrade from a mid-2009 C2D 13" to the early-2011 i5 13"! =)
 
Most reviewers advise getting the i5 because there is such a small difference between the two. For your uses, I'd bet there would be no noticeable difference.

Keep in mind the stock i5 will only have a 320GB hard drive while your i7 comes with 500GB but I guess you can always swap that out later if you need.
 
Also note that if you have your funds tied up within that MacBook Pro you're returning, it takes apple approximately 4 business days to refund that money. Double check to see how long that MicroCenter sale lasts. But yeah $400 is $400, if you could use the money, then go for it.
 
I Feel Your Pain

I'm in the opposite position. trying to choose. should I pay for the 13" i5 or i7 to replacing my 2006 mac book core 2 duo. Maybe this will help you. according to Anandtech

" The primary differences between these two parts are clock speed, L3 cache size and AES-NI support. The 2.3GHz Core i5 lacks AES-NI, has a 3MB L3 cache and can only turbo up to 2.9GHz. The 2.7GHz Core i7 has AES-NI, a 4MB L3 cache and can turbo up as high as 3.4GHz."

If you think you may need more speed Keep the i7, it will over clock itself to 3.4GHz but once again $300 for .5GHz?

OK. I know I sound like a Noob here, but I don't know if AES-NI important, I thinks its for encryption so maybe if you encrypt your drive? also the i5 dose not support VT-d, I don't now what that dose so maybe someone else can answer that? Below is a link to the article.

http://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index...eview-13-and-15-inch-2011-brings-sandy-bridge

I've tried to research between the two but there don't seem to be many good comparison articles.
 
aznguyen316 said:
Also note that if you have your funds tied up within that MacBook Pro you're returning, it takes apple approximately 4 business days to refund that money. Double check to see how long that MicroCenter sale lasts. But yeah $400 is $400, if you could use the money, then go for it.
Click to expand...

MicroCenter has been running the $1000 base model 13" MBP for close to a year.

I bought my 2010 13" MBP base model last July and it was an open box: $900. for $900, a steal for a nice laptop. Yes, it only has a 2.4GHz C2D, but I don't do anything processor heavy, and generally screams for standard computing, and does quite well for games in Win 7 BootCamp, too. Should work well for quite a while yet, I would think.
 
harcosparky said:
Where did you buy the current notebook from?

An Apple Store?

I think they have a RESTOCKING FEE and you will be losing about $140 ( 10% ). So your refund will only be $260.
Click to expand...

I bought the notebook from Best Buy and according to their associate their is no restocking fee now.
 
kemel said:
I bought the notebook from Best Buy and according to their associate their is no restocking fee now.
Click to expand...

If you notice in an edit I removed the message as I found out Apple has no restocking fee either.

It was nice of Best Buy to give you the Educational Discount, normally the tell people they won't do that but there is a way to get it from them as you know.
 
jegbook said:
MicroCenter has been running the $1000 base model 13" MBP for close to a year.
Click to expand...

I bought my 2010 13" MBP from Microcenter last July as well for $999 but it definitely hasn't been going on for a year. This $999 "came back' I guess maybe 2-3 weeks ago for the i5 and I don't think lasts forever.
 
Yup, go exchange it specially if you will be using Boot Camp to run Windows. Apple is well aware of overheating on the i7 that they have disabled Turbo Boost while using Boot Camp. So technically the i5 is actually faster ;)
 
Wicked4u2c said:
Yup, go exchange it specially if you will be using Boot Camp to run Windows. Apple is well aware of overheating on the i7 that they have disabled Turbo Boost while using Boot Camp. So technically the i5 is actually faster ;)
Click to expand...

Really??? I hadn't heard this. Do you have a source where I could read up on this?
 
squeakr said:
Really??? I hadn't heard this. Do you have a source where I could read up on this?
Click to expand...

Well in my personal experience when I had the 13" i7 I could not, for the life of me get turbo boost to kick in while in Boot Camp. My current i7 2.3 15" MBP kicks in all the time. So yeah I was skeptical even though people told me otherwise.
 
Go for it!

I would downgrade to the i5 as it handles basically anything I throw at it without any problems. In terms of schoolwork, my i5 does everything. From word processing to editing videos to programming for my Comp. Math class, it has zero problems. And in terms of gaming, I can play StarCraft II at medium settings without lag, which is fine with me. All in all, I think the i5 is pretty good :D
 
aznguyen316 said:
Well in my personal experience when I had the 13" i7 I could not, for the life of me get turbo boost to kick in while in Boot Camp. My current i7 2.3 15" MBP kicks in all the time. So yeah I was skeptical even though people told me otherwise.
Click to expand...

Could it be there is a difference in the 13" i7 and the 15" i7 ????


Were you able to engage Turbo Boost on the 13" in OSX ???
 
harcosparky said:
Could it be there is a difference in the 13" i7 and the 15" i7 ????


Were you able to engage Turbo Boost on the 13" in OSX ???
Click to expand...

Yes there is a difference in the i7 from the 13" to the 15" but whatever the case I could not get the i7 to turbo boost. Highest clock was 2.7Ghz. My 15" i7 is clocked at 2.3Ghz quad, but goes up to 3.1, 3.3 and 3.4Ghz constantly bouncing up and down. It would not ever go above 2.7Ghz on the 13" i7 dual core, no matter benching, gaming, anything! Turbo boost monitor and CPU-Z showed this.

I wasn't able to get MSR tools or anything to run under OSX so I can't confirm or deny if turbo boost worked under OSX.
 
No because you have become accustomed to the current performance and subsequently, you may find the replacement never meets the standards the original set.
 
squeakr said:
Yes quite a bit of difference. The 13" is a Dual core and the 15" is a quad core.:eek:
Click to expand...


This represents the Dual Core MacBook Pro
fastandthefurious4_5_m.jpg




This represents the Quad Core MacBook Pro
hyperspace_550x308.jpg





This is not a representation whatsoever; in fact a real time image of what happens when you use a POS system. It is called 'Windows Vista'. Unfortunately, neither the computer nor the operator survived due to the occurrence of a fatal error
windowslivewriterspeedupyourslowcomputerfreesolutionstosy-b054slow-computer3.jpg
 
NickZac said:
This is not a representation whatsoever; in fact a real time image of what happens when you use a POS system. It is called 'Windows Vista'. Unfortunately, neither the computer nor the operator survived due to the occurrence of a fatal error
windowslivewriterspeedupyourslowcomputerfreesolutionstosy-b054slow-computer3.jpg
Click to expand...

That's fine as Vista is dying anyway. Microsoft has announced that it is trying to kill off Vista by not supporting it in IE10.
 
kemel said:
Hey guys,

I'm still have a few days to return this MBP and was debating whether it would be worth exchanging my i7 for the i5 and getting $400+ back for it? The i7 is running well, but just trying to justify if its worth keeping. I will most likely keep this laptop for a while and it will be used mostly for college, browsing, and light gaming. I got it with the educational discount so only paid 1399, but microcenter is doing the 999 deal for the i5.

So, should I keep the i7 or exchange it for the i5 and get $400+ back?

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

If its about the money - return it. you will still have a sweet MacBook Pro plus $400 in your pocket. These days you cant beat that.:)
 
Jump on that microcenter deal and fast. I really want to. Now if someone will buy my aluminum MacBook...
 
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