Skylake U-Series - i5 vs i7

[Yoshimura]

I'm trying to compare the i5 and i7 offered in the base 13" but can't find any difference (like feature and/or technologies) beside the clock speed.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/91169,91156

Even the product brief doesn't show any difference.

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww...t-briefs/6th-gen-core-family-mobile-brief.pdf

 

[skids929]

I'm trying to compare the i5 and i7 offered in the base 13" but can't find any difference (like feature and/or technologies) beside the clock speed.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/91169,91156

Even the product brief doesn't show any difference.

http://www.intel.com/content/dam/ww...t-briefs/6th-gen-core-family-mobile-brief.pdf

I believe they are both 15W TDP. So not much else to differentiate them other than clock speed.

 

[vatter69]

Same with the Skylakes used for the 13 TB model. Only difference is 50 Mhz max clock on the GPU.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/91164,91166,91167

Thats why i picked the 3.1 Ghz i5 over the i7. They are virtual identical beside 200 Mhz clock and for the price difference i got 16GB Ram.

 

[deadworlds]

There is more to a CPUs performance than just clock speed. Examples include: cache levels, chache size, CPU architecture, power draw etc.


Intel didn't give two processors from the same family different names simply to differentiate between clock speeds.


Great article on what caches do
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...-why-theyre-an-essential-part-of-modern-chips



This article, a bit down the page shows a table comparing the sky late U-series i7 and i5 processors. http://wccftech.com/intel-skylake-u...-intel-iris-graphics-variants-arrive-q1-2016/

 

[protoxx]

Good explanation of intel processor differences.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i3-vs-i5-vs-i7-one-really-need/

 

[vatter69]

I totally agree however in this Skylake series for the 13" i fail to spot any difference between i5 and i7 or the spec website is wrong.

There is more to a CPUs performance than just clock speed. Examples include: cache levels, chache size, CPU architecture, power draw etc.


Intel didn't give two processors from the same family different names simply to differentiate between clock speeds.


Great article on what caches do
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...-why-theyre-an-essential-part-of-modern-chips



This article, a bit down the page shows a table comparing the sky late U-series i7 and i5 processors. http://wccftech.com/intel-skylake-u...-intel-iris-graphics-variants-arrive-q1-2016/

 

[MacBH928]

i never understood the difference between i3 i5 and i7.
There are also some funny upgrades, if you pay just $100 more they will upgrade your CPU from 2.9GHz to 3.1 . Is 200MHz really worth it?
and for $300 you can upgrade 400mhz more to 3.3GHz .

On Amazon you can get an i7 4GHz CPU for the same price, not an upgrade.

 

[pookitoo]

Good explanation of intel processor differences.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/intel-core-i3-vs-i5-vs-i7-one-really-need/

I've read this article and we can see some difference between i5 and I7 : (dual core so for the 13 ")
- i5 : 3-6 mb cache size & i7 : 4-8mb
- i5 : no hyper threading & i7 : hyper threading
- i5 little lower graphic card than the i7

And when I'm going to macbench :
- Macbook 13 tb 2016 i5 : single : 3716 & dual : 7386
- Macbook 13 tb 2016 i7 : single : 4005 & dual : 7941

almost 10 % is not nothing when you see the little bump spec from intel year after year. (and almost 10 % of the price)

I'm not sure to understand everything but according to me the upgrade worth it ?

 

[Wowereit]

Both are running 2 cores with hyperthreading enabled, so a maximum of 4 threads.
Both come with 4 MB cache and the same iGPU.

It's clockspeed, just plain simple clockspeed.
If you won't believe me, you will certainly believe Intel.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/91156,91169

It's the same exact CPU just clocked a little bit higher.

 

[pookitoo]

Both are running 2 cores with hyperthreading enabled, so a maximum of 4 threads.
Both come with 4 MB cache and the same iGPU.

It's clockspeed, just simple clockspeed.
If you won't believe me, you will certainly believe Intel.
http://ark.intel.com/products/91156/Intel-Core-i5-6360U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_10-GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/91163/Intel-Core-i7-6560U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/91497/Intel-Core-i7-6650U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_40-GHz

Yes you're right ! So strange ! Why they call I5 and i7 if the only difference is clock speed ;( Only marketing again !!!

Thank a lot to give us some info because I 'm really afraid to have any regret with the i5 ! (I'm in EU and I have a week before receiving mine)

686 x 326​

 

[Wowereit]

Intel is making very easy profits by selling the same chip for 100$ more and Apple will gladly buy them with mass discount for 70$ more and sell them for 300$ more.

I've edited my first post to include the exact CPUs Apple is using.
It doesn't change the conclusion at all, just wanted to make it 100% right.

 

[Fl0r!an]

i7's are higher binned, so they can reach higher clock speeds within same thermal envelope. Additionally, Intel is selling partly defective CPUs as lower-end versions by disabling parts of the hardware (e.g. parts of cache or some cores).

The two mentioned CPUs don't seem to differ at all besides clock speed, so yes, that's basically it. The only i7 "feature" in this case is the ability to run stable with the specced clock speed with a specified core voltage.

This is just a result of the manufacturing process. Depending on the yields, Intel is adjusting features and prices for the CPUs so they don't have to throw the junk away (they'll just sell it as "i3" or even worse, as Pentium or Celeron).