Worth upgrading processor to i7?

[ahoydecoy]

Hi,

I'm planning on finally going for a Mini in the near future and am weighing up my options.

I won't need it for anything too demanding, but would like it to be able to handle most things if I ever need to delve into some light video or photo editing. 16gb RAM should be fine, and I'll probably go for a 1TB SSD, but I'm wondering if people think I'll notice much difference between the 3.0 six-core i5 and the 3.2 i7?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Ledgem]

The key differences between the i5 and the i7 are in the hyperthreading, which allows one core to add a "virtual" core such that software sees twice the number of cores. Both can use the "turbo boost" functionality to temporarily increase their clock rate. (Of note, the difference between the i3 and the i5 is in "turbo boost" - the i3 can't do it, while the i5 can.)

Will hyperthreading be useful to you? Based on what I've read, hyperthreading could offer up to 30% improvement in performance compared with systems that lack the feature. It's only useful for programs that are multithreaded, and possibly for very heavy multitasking.

My gut feeling is that, for only light photo and video editing, the i5 should be sufficient. You might also be able to talk yourself out of the i7 if you watch your processor performance through Activity Monitor (assuming you're already using a Mac) and keep an eye on it as you go about your most demanding tasks. Open it, go to the CPU tab, then double-click the "CPU Load" graph to bring up a floating window that shows all cores. (If you're only seeing one black segment and you know you're on a multi-core system - which all but the most ancient Macs are at this point - drag the corner of the window to enlarge it and show the other cores.). If all cores seem like they're getting maxed or near-maxed then there's a chance that you could benefit from the i7. If you see some cores going unused or barely used, it's less likely that the i7 would offer you anything over the i5.

 

[Miat]

(Of note, the difference between the i3 and the i5 is in "turbo boost" - the i3 can't do it, while the i5 can.)

i3 is also quad core, while the i5 & i7 are hex core.

 

[MacsRSour]

In my case, I realize i5 is sufficient for my needs (hardly go above 4 cores) but I think since I buy a mac once every 5 years, I wanted the extra ~10%+ performance for $200 is worth it in my head in case I have future needs.

Obviously your usage will differ.

https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/434

 

[mr.steevo]

Personally, I’d save the $200 and stick with the i5. I’d also save an additional $200 and go with the base 8GB of RAM, then upgrade it yourself for significantly less money.

 

[smetvid]

Personally, I’d save the $200 and stick with the i5. I’d also save an additional $200 and go with the base 8GB of RAM, then upgrade it yourself for significantly less money.

The cost from 8GB to 16Gb is not a significant cost savings between Apple vs a 3rd party. Going higher of course is but it is also a massive pita to change the ram and unless one wants to tinker with very tiny tools I think letting apple do the 16GB is probably not a bad way to go. Plus Apple will not honor the warranty if the user upgrades the Ram so for the tiny amount saved it isn't really worth it to have to put the Apple Ram back in to bring it in for service.

Its roughly $100 savings to do the 16GB and that is kind of borderline if it is really worth the hassle. Plus one needs to buy special tools to do the upgrade so that cost needs to be factored in as well. I did my own Ram because I did 32GB and I used to build computers so I wasn't worried about the effort. with that said the Ram upgrade was an annoying process and I could see a lot of people not wanting to deal with that sort of thing. I personally think twice about suggesting this unless I know somebody would be willing to handle the situation.
[doublepost=1567791986][/doublepost]

Hi,

I'm planning on finally going for a Mini in the near future and am weighing up my options.

I won't need it for anything too demanding, but would like it to be able to handle most things if I ever need to delve into some light video or photo editing. 16gb RAM should be fine, and I'll probably go for a 1TB SSD, but I'm wondering if people think I'll notice much difference between the 3.0 six-core i5 and the 3.2 i7?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

To be honest I think you would see a lot more use in the future getting the CPU now and reducing the internal SSD down from 1TB. External storage is insanely easy and cost effective to add at any point in the future and the Mini adds a ton of ports to add storage at up to internal SSD speeds if you go TB3 storage.

I went with 128GB internal which is more than enough for the OS and apps. I keep all my photos, content, music and so forth on external drives. The one regret I do have is bootcamp is a pita to use on external drives and much easier to keep on the internal drive. 128GB is too small to split into two for MacOS and Windows. If you need bootcamp get at least 256GB.

 

[twalk]

Benchmarking really only shows the i7 about 16% or so faster than the i5. That's not much for the money. While that can get to more like 40%+ for running things like Handbrake, thermal throttling will then hit you and knock you back down anyway

If you're often running several virtual machines, then yes, go for it. The extra hyperthreads -> vcps makes a difference. Otherwise it's meh

 

[harriska2]

I just compressed a bunch of videos from .dv to .mpg4 on an i5 with 32gb ram and 1tb ssd. It’s a beast. I upgraded the ram myself (well, my electronics hubby did it). Such a nice little machine, really love it.

 

[mr.steevo]

Hi,

I'm planning on finally going for a Mini in the near future and am weighing up my options.

I won't need it for anything too demanding, but would like it to be able to handle most things if I ever need to delve into some light video or photo editing. 16gb RAM should be fine, and I'll probably go for a 1TB SSD, but I'm wondering if people think I'll notice much difference between the 3.0 six-core i5 and the 3.2 i7?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

What was your decision?

 

[opeter]

The cost from 8GB to 16Gb is not a significant cost savings between Apple vs a 3rd party.

Well, maybe in the US, here the cost of the RAM is significant.

Apple price for RAM is almost 4x higher for 16 GB (2x8 GB) versus the price if I buy my own RAM.

I am not kidding, look (premium reseller standard price):

RAM from a normal computer shop (2 x 38 EUR = 76 €):

 

[FilmIndustryGuy]

Hi,

I'm planning on finally going for a Mini in the near future and am weighing up my options.

I won't need it for anything too demanding, but would like it to be able to handle most things if I ever need to delve into some light video or photo editing. 16gb RAM should be fine, and I'll probably go for a 1TB SSD, but I'm wondering if people think I'll notice much difference between the 3.0 six-core i5 and the 3.2 i7?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I got the i3 and have edited 2 min 4K commercial client work with it. It ran smooth like butter in fcpx. The GPU isn’t bad in fcpx and you don’t need a egpu unless you use a lot of grading and motion effects. Get the i5 if you’re going to edit since it also comes with 256 gb. One upgrade that is a must is go for 32 gb ram to feel the speed. It’s cheap if bought separately. The only issue I ran into was the 128 gb base ssd filled up and I had to delete renders to be able to export video. Now I have fcpx projects running from an external ssd. The i7 may overheat on you and slow down. Also it’s pointless to get the i7 for your use as the i3 is fast enough for anything I threw at it. They are all fast but only if you upgrade to 32gb ram

 

[ahoydecoy]

... but only if you upgrade to 32gb ram

I'm not sure if I can afford 32gb RAM. My 2016 MacBook Pro only has 8gb and at first I was worried about that, but it's rare that I push that limit to the point where I notice. I would of course expect a desktop to be able to handle more, but I would hope the 16gb would suffice.

I would love to be able to go for 32 just in case, but I wouldn't have considered going for i3 and less SDD space in order to have it.