11" and i7 or 256?

[kilonet]

Hi Guys, which one do you think is a better choice for the 11"? Cant afford both. I will be buying external hard drive in the future anyway. Possibly thunderbolt.


1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 [+ 137,76 EUR]

or

256GB Flash Storage [+ 275,52 EUR ]

 

[Hellhammer]

Unless you do something very CPU intensive, go with the SSD. It's unlikely that you will notice any difference between the CPUs but the SSD will definitely be a difference.

 

[theyanman]

Hi Guys, which one do you think is a better choice for the 11"? Cant afford both. I will be buying external hard drive in the future anyway. Possibly thunderbolt.


1.8GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 [+ 137,76 EUR]

or

256GB Flash Storage [+ 275,52 EUR ]

i7 hands down. you can always use an external drive or cloud storage to supplement your storage needs.

 

[kilonet]

thanks guys but you aint making this any easier..



Ive have been figuring out where do I need the extra storage? my music, photos ect. are even this moment on an external drive.

 

[MRU]

The 256gb SSD would prob make resell value hold up more than the processor.

Basically ask yourself what are you doing on the machine. Do you plan lots of graphic design, photo editing, video editing then the 1.8 i7 would benefit. But if you plan on just storing your iTunes, watching movies, regular office tasks etc.. Then go for the 256gb.


We don't know your usage. At the end of the day you may be fine with the i5 & 128gb SSD - in which case don't spend anything extra. It's your call.

 

[Oppressed]

I am in the same boat, but assuming you would use both features to the potential max which would be the better investment?

For the i5 vs i7 the benchmarks show that the i5 scores in the low 5k's while the i7 scores almost 6k which is a huge difference. Also would the processor have any effect on 3D games? Normally it wouldn't but since the HD 3000 is so much connected to the processor I have to wonder.

As for the storage I wanted to put a Win7 bootcamp on the 2010 model but didn't have enough space, and therefore this would be an obvious solution, but again I wonder if I even need Win7 since everything seems to be running better under OSX.

 

[kilonet]

Well I use it mostly on school work (office programs), surfing the net, email and itunes. But I am not planning to save my whole itunes library on it.

I am planning to install Photoshop in to it. But my photo editing will be modest.

I tought about the boot camp but I dont think I will be using Windows on the road with me. So the question remains.

 

[Rob.G]

If I were in that boat, I'd get the bigger SSD. The CPU isn't that huge of a deal I don't think. I lived fine with the 1.6 on my original MBA11... the only time it was "slow" was doing Photoshop operations, and the new base processor is going to be nearly twice as fast.

The one thing I missed most on my old one was space. And aftermarket SSDs are too costly to upgrade (not to mention affecting warranty).

Rob

 

[3bs]

Based on what you said you'd be using it for, I'd go with the i7. But I'm not expert. I have a late 2010 MBA 11.6" 1.6GHz 128gb

 

[stevenpa]

SSD without question. The i7 performance boost won't be noticeable with your use. And it's not even noticeable most of the time anyways.

 

[Oppressed]

After giving it some thought I'm actually leaning towards NEITHER.

Do you see yourself using more then the 128GB space if you factor in intelligently using that space?

Also apparently the only real difference between the i5 and i7 is hyper threading which most applications will not even take advantage of. Also given that there have been reports of the i7 running hotter and louder due to fans makes it a big turn off.