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MBABuyer

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 4, 2011
153
0
VA
Are there any i5 vs i7 videos out there?

I can't decide whether the difference will be enough for me to notice. I am using the computer for Internet, email, iphoto, and occasional imovie.

What do I do?
 

Apple Expert

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,337
0
I'm leaning towards the i5 instead of th i7. The benchmark scores are only about 300 points difference. Probably not enough to see a difference.
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
I am using the computer for Internet, email, iphoto, and occasional imovie.
Internet, email and iPhoto don't really use much of the processor, IMO. Exporting movies from iMovie does, however. I think you'd be fine with i5 if that's all you wanted to buy.
 

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,265
2,630
Western US
Yep, I think I'm going with the i5 256 GB 13". Current bench scores on both the 11" and 13" only show about a 7% increase in speed between the i5 and i7 models. That's probably below the threshold for human perception (certainly casually). Furthermore, the i7s cost more and some people are reporting a lot more fan use with the i7. Doesn't seem worth it to me.
 

WardC

macrumors 68030
Oct 17, 2007
2,727
215
Fort Worth, TX
Perth is like at the end of the world. That's like 12,000 miles from where I am here in Texas.

EDIT: No, it's only 10,519 miles. I was wrong.
 

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,265
2,630
Western US
Well I wanted the i5, but they only had the i7 model in the store, so I went for it. So far I am hearing some fan, not super loud, but constant. But, it's in the middle of Spotlight indexing, encrypting the HD, backing up to the Time Capsule, and syncing all my Mobile Me stuff, all at the same time.

Incredible machine so far (13"), feels fast and so much lighter than my 15" MBP. I've owned 5 previous Mac laptops, and this one already feels like the best. I don't think I could ever go back to a 5-6 lb. laptop again.
 

Apple Expert

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,337
0
Well I wanted the i5, but they only had the i7 model in the store, so I went for it. So far I am hearing some fan, not super loud, but constant. But, it's in the middle of Spotlight indexing, encrypting the HD, backing up to the Time Capsule, and syncing all my Mobile Me stuff, all at the same time.

Incredible machine so far (13"), feels fast and so much lighter than my 15" MBP. I've owned 5 previous Mac laptops, and this one already feels like the best. I don't think I could ever go back to a 5-6 lb. laptop again.

I love this MBA. However the fan noise is not good. :\ I splurged at the last moment and went i7. I'm thinking I should of stuck with my first reaction and went i5. It's not horribly loud, but it's distracting.
 

vty

macrumors member
May 8, 2010
57
0
I'm going i5.

I've had other i7 laptops (Dell XPS) that had horrible fan issues, and it seems that a decent number (if not all) MBP and MBAs have issues with cooling the i7 even though the same TDP.

Hopefully something can convince me otherwise over the next few days, I really want that 2.9ghz turbo boost.
 

Apple Expert

macrumors 65816
Jan 31, 2010
1,337
0
When I had my 2011 13" MBP i5 I never heard the fans. Only heard the hhd spinning. Maybe the i7 in generally isn't the most silent of the two. I'm going to give it a few more days and test it out. If not I'm going to exchange for the i5.
 

aristobrat

macrumors G5
Oct 14, 2005
12,292
1,403
I'm going i5.

I've had other i7 laptops (Dell XPS) that had horrible fan issues, and it seems that a decent number (if not all) MBP and MBAs have issues with cooling the i7 even though the same TDP.

Hopefully something can convince me otherwise over the next few days, I really want that 2.9ghz turbo boost.
IMO, the reports are too inconsistent with the new MBAs to detect a trend between the i7 and fans.

When you setup a new Mac, if you take the stuff OS X does in the background and add what the users are doing (like migrating tons of data to it), there's a lot going on, and it doesn't surprise me that some fans are spinning up.

I'm curious to see how things are after a few more days...
 
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