Would 2.0GHz i5 be enough?

[vmflapem]

I'd really appreciate it if someone could please explain this processor speed thing. The 13" touch bar model uses 2.90GHz and the non-touch bar model uses 2.00GHz and looking at the number, that looks like a huge difference to me.

When would this difference in processor speed become significant?

Also, my usage would be:
- chrome with multiple tabs open
- annotating on pdf files while multiple pdfs are open
- watching videos on chrome
- gaming occasionally (League of Legends)

Would 2.0GHz be enough for this usage?

 

[Ma2k5]

I would say yes in all those scenarios. People have been doing all those perfectly fine on weaker machines. A more powerful machine will likely improve gaming performance, but everything else you listed should be relatively the same.

 

[Beau10]

They're very close to the same speed. The turbo speed is what should be looked at -- the 2.0 is 3.1Ghz and the 2.9 is 3.3Ghz.

The geekbench multiprocessor score on the 2.0 is 7,014, the 2.9 does 7,415 -- https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks, so about a 6% difference.

The 2.0 is a 15W processor vs. the 2.9 being a 28W so the 2.0 will throttle sooner... that said, according to the Ars Technica review the 2.0 did not throttle at all over a 30 minute period of sustained CPU load. It did throttle when the GPU was involved.

So basically, the only thing above that will truly make a difference is gaming. The 2.9 also has a more performant GPU.

 

[Ma2k5]

They're very close to the same speed. The turbo speed is what should be looked at -- the 2.0 is 3.1Ghz and the 2.9 is 3.3Ghz.

The geekbench multiprocessor score on the 2.0 is 7,014, the 2.9 does 7,415 -- https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks, so about a 5% difference.

The 2.0 is a 15W processor vs. the 2.9 being a 28W so the 2.0 will throttle sooner... that said, according to the Ars Technica review the 2.0 did not throttle at all over a 30 minute period of sustained CPU load. It did throttle when the GPU was involved.

So basically, the only thing above that will truly make a difference from the above list is gaming. The 2.9 also has a more performant GPU which will help as well.

Yep this is pretty much spot on. I personally do think there are one too many cons to the touch bar mode to be worth the slight performance increase.

 

[Beau10]

Yep this is pretty much spot on. I personally do think there are one too many cons to the touch bar mode to be worth the slight performance increase.

Right -- the biggest one IMO is the battery difference. 10% smaller battery, extra load from the TB and higher wattage processor is showing a difference of about 25%. People with the TB seem to struggle to get more than 7-8 hours, whereas it's not too hard to do 9-10 hours w/ the nonTB. So if you ever have a need to work sans outlet all day (I personally do at times, being a remote working software dev) then the TB is not a good option.

 

[vmflapem]

They're very close to the same speed. The turbo speed is what should be looked at -- the 2.0 is 3.1Ghz and the 2.9 is 3.3Ghz.

The geekbench multiprocessor score on the 2.0 is 7,014, the 2.9 does 7,415 -- https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks, so about a 6% difference.

The 2.0 is a 15W processor vs. the 2.9 being a 28W so the 2.0 will throttle sooner... that said, according to the Ars Technica review the 2.0 did not throttle at all over a 30 minute period of sustained CPU load. It did throttle when the GPU was involved.

So basically, the only thing above that will truly make a difference is gaming. The 2.9 also has a more performant GPU.

Thank you everyone!!

What sort of tasks would require high CPU and GPU load? My knowledge in this field is very superficial ;(

 

[macmee]

Thank you everyone!!

What sort of tasks would require high CPU and GPU load? My knowledge in this field is very superficial ;(

LoL will be demanding of your CPU and onboard graphics. However, I used to run LoL at 60fps on medium to high graphics on a 2010 macbook pro. Unless you plan on playing LoL on a 4k external monitor or something, you should be fine. Probably you'd be fine in overwatch too.

 

[protoxx]

Remember the old axiom speed is life. The faster it is the longer you will use it. If you buy something that is "Good Enough" it will all to soon with software and OS bloat be a dog you want to replace.

 

[iGangsta]

I have been doing those things with i3 2.2ghz on my Windows pc for 3 years

Answer your que; more than enough

 

[Wowereit]

Remember the old axiom speed is life. The faster it is the longer you will use it. If you buy something that is "Good Enough" it will all to soon with software and OS bloat be a dog you want to replace.

- RAM and storage (assuming 8 GB and 256-512 GB) will bottleneck the machine way before the CPU does anyway.
- 7% more CPU performance won't change the point of obsolescence at all.
- saving a few hundred bucks allows for upgrading at least 1 to 2 years early, bringing you a shiny new machine with even more performance, better battery life, no wear down and so on