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Who went with the 13" rMBP i7 and why?

B

Breedlove

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 23, 2006
163
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Who went with the 13" rMBP i7 and why?

I'm interested in hearing your opinions.

As far as I can tell it only performs marginally better than the upgraded i5 but costs $180-$200 more.

I'm tempted to choose this upgrade but I keep second guessing myself.
 
I went with i7 in the 13-inch rMBP. My reasoning? I didn't need more than 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM that I went with, but felt like the i7 could help me out every now and then. Plus, I could afford it.
 
I got my wife the 2.8/16/512.

We like our machines to last for five or so years, and in the grand scheme of things spread out over that time frame a couple hundred bucks is not much to have the best; plus we just like to have top end configurations. Just didn't get the 1 TB SSD because there is zero performance increase or potential performance increase and the machine will be lucky to even see 256 gb filled.
 
I'm struggling with this decision as well.

In all likelihood, this laptop will go to my mom in 3-ish years as I upgrade. Then again it might not.

I think I'll go with i7 + 16GB RAM + 256 SSD, that way it's a bit more expensive, but if needed it'll last me forever.
 
I'm still debating it.

If I choose to get 16 GB of RAM so that the machine will have a longer useful life, I will also get the i7 to help with that goal. I know it's just a few percent faster than the 2.6 i5 from the benchmarks, but if my goal is adding a year or two to the useful life of the system, those few percent could help, as well as the additional 1MB of L3 cache.

If I end up deciding that I don't need more than 8 GM of RAM, I'll be going with the "Best" base model of 2.6i5/8/512 and not worrying about the extra speed.
 
How are you guys rationalizing the battery life hit from upgrading to i7?
 
Breedlove said:
How are you guys rationalizing the battery life hit from upgrading to i7?
Click to expand...

  1. It's not clear to me how much of a hit there will be. Need to wait for tests & benchmarks to find out.
  2. I don't typically need to work off battery that much. Even 5 hours of battery life would exceed my normal usage.
  3. If a system with long battery life were my primary goal, I would certainly be looking at the 1.7 GHz i7 MBA, which benchmarks surprisingly well against both the 2.6 GHz i5 and 2.8 GHz i7 in the 13" rMBP.
 
Hmm... well it seems my decision is only clearer now.

Probably going to go with the i7/16/256.

Just have to wait for my funds from PayPal to clear from selling my ThinkPad (which is weird since this is the first time I've had funds held...)
 
Breedlove said:
Hmm...

Anyone choose the i7 on the basis of performance?
Click to expand...

Yes,

I went with the 13" i7 / 16GB / 512GB. I used to upgrade laptops every 3 years but now it is at least 4 and can be 5. I also use my machines for work only, so I like to spend as little time on them as possible, get things done fast and work with big or a lot of files as a photographer.

I did think about a maxed 15" for this reason but the way I use a laptop meant that a 13" was the ticket. I am a little price conscious as I held off on going with the 1TB drive, but since I write these purchases off my taxes, maxing out on everything else was not a big deal.
 
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