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What processor should I get.

millertime021

millertime021

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 28, 2010
640
0
AZ
I'm a college student, and I will be upgrading from my iBook G4. Yes I know any upgrade will be significant.

But I would like some advice. Should I got with the 2.53GHz i5 or the 2.66 i7. I will be using for the everyday stuff, email, web, etc. Also, Matlab and some games.

Plus any new software that will assist in my engineering career. I plan on keeping this one for AT LEAST 2-3 years. Unless there is a huge update in the future that has something I need. Then I'll go the eBay route and it won't really matter.

But in your opinion, what should I go for.

Thanks for reading and sorry if you feel my post is a duplicate or "stupid".

$2000 is just a lot money to spend. :cool:
 
millertime021 said:
I'm a college student, and I will be upgrading from my iBook G4. Yes I know any upgrade will be significant.

But I would like some advice. Should I got with the 2.53GHz i5 or the 2.66 i7. I will be using for the everyday stuff, email, web, etc. Also, Matlab and some games.

Plus any new software that will assist in my engineering career. I plan on keeping this one for AT LEAST 2-3 years. Unless there is a huge update in the future that has something I need. Then I'll go the eBay route and it won't really matter.

But in your opinion, what should I go for.

Thanks for reading and sorry if you feel my post is a duplicate or "stupid".

$2000 is just a lot money to spend. :cool:
Click to expand...
2 sides to this coin... for what you state your intended uses are, i5 should be fine. As you know, you can't later upgrade the CPU so logic would say get the fastest you can now so it will last the longest in terms of still being 'current'. If it is only a $100 difference or so, I say get the i7 but in real world use, you won't notice a difference one bit unless you are doing crazy CPU intensive tasks.
 
miles01110 said:
Engineering software will most likely be Windows-only and almost certainly Windows-native. Consider buying a Windows machine.
Click to expand...

well I could always dual boot, and I've got a Windows desktop.

Plus I could buy a cheap windows laptop down the road for under 1k


But yes that is something I should think about, thanks for the advice.
 
miles01110 said:
Engineering software will most likely be Windows-only and almost certainly Windows-native. Consider buying a Windows machine.
Click to expand...

When I need to run solidworks I just shut down and switch to windows. Besides the oos and aahs it only takes less than a minute.
 
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