i7 upgrade for 2015 13" MacBook Air

[infinitejest]

I'm already a fast touch typist... so if it were me, I'd get the 512gb ssd (or 256 if you really can't afford it) instead of the i7. I got the 512 in 2013 and my only regret is that they didn't offer a 1TB option.

I went back to the original post...my personal opinion (yours may vary) is that getting the 128GB SSD is a mistake, as Boyd01 points out, you most likely want as much drive space as possible. I agree, a 256 GB SSD is the current min; even 512 GB may seem small if you are a packrat (like me).

I have a 2009 MBA which came with only the 128GB SSD, and I'm constantly shuffling files around.

Why do you need so much storage on your MacBook? I currently have 128 GB in my old MacBook and an external with 500 GB and that's more than I'll ever need.
The biggest thing on my MacBook is probably my photo library. But the few movies I own and my old music is always on my external drive because I rarely ever need it, thanks to Spotify and Netflix.
I don't play any games and I don't really need much apps other than the built in apps.
So I think 128 GB is really all I need.

Besides that, $200 for 128 GB more storage is just crazy when I can get 1TB for $50 on Amazon.

 

[Boyd01]

Most of us accumulate more "stuff" as time passes. I have two milk crates full of old external firewire and USB drives. My iTunes library expanded beyond 1TB a couple years ago so I gave up all hopes of keeping it on the MBA like I prefer. But my career has involved art, photopgraphy, video and music so that generates a lot of data. Just bought a pair of 5TB external drives so that I can get a big pile of DV and HDV tapes going back 15 years onto them.

I guess some people are just different though.

 

[blesscheese]

Why do you need so much storage on your MacBook? I currently have 128 GB in my old MacBook and an external with 500 GB and that's more than I'll ever need.
The biggest thing on my MacBook is probably my photo library. But the few movies I own and my old music is always on my external drive because I rarely ever need it, thanks to Spotify and Netflix.
I don't play any games and I don't really need much apps other than the built in apps.
So I think 128 GB is really all I need.

Besides that, $200 for 128 GB more storage is just crazy when I can get 1TB for $50 on Amazon.

Well, congrats, you are basically using the MBA the way it was designed. Reality is, eventually we'll all be putting our stuff on the cloud, and the internal drive will likely only have the OS and a couple other files on it.

I live and work in an area where the cloud is more pipe dream than reality, and need to carry stuff on my internal drive. (My iTunes library is about 60 GB of music, all ripped from CD's, and my photo library is about 30GB, and I like having that on my internal drive...)

 

[awair]

Short answer: no, the i7 won't boot up faster.

Longer answer: while the i7 may be the faster chip, the limiting factor will be how fast the SSD is sending info to the chip to process. At the pace the SSD is sending info to the chip, the i5 can keep up. And even if the i7 was faster, with the SSD, the boot up time difference would be (at max) maybe 2 seconds.

Plus, as others mentioned, the i7 will draw slightly more power, and thus use the battery more, so you will have slightly less battery life.

Not an expert in any way, but have read way to many posts here and there. To let this one go...

Boot time
The i7 will boot faster - you just won't notice it.
Second, you will rarely 'boot' the air, mostly just resume from Sleep/Standby, this depends more on the amount of Ram that needs to be restored (from SSD?)
Verdict - disregard boot speed.

Battery life
The i7 will use more power, but for a given task it will be completed quicker. Possibly using the same or less power overall (based on iOS use, the biggest draw is screen brightness - so the least time completing a task is better).
Verdict - a pinch of salt...

Ready to ship
Is your configuration ready to ship or available in store? The purchase price may be quickly forgotten, but you'll love the air as soon as you get it.
Verdict - get hitched to the Air, as soon as you can.

Future proof
There is no doubt that SSD size is more critical than CPU. It's great to have that warm fuzzy feeling knowing you have the best. If I could have had the i5, max Ram & SSD, I would have saved the money. We now have 3 Airs in the family, all recycled. Even the 4GB 2010 model is good enough for everything I need on a daily basis. I bought the maxed-out 2013 at full price, and the maxed 2014 (11") for just $999 when it was 'obsolete'.
Verdict - look at B&H or Adorama, selling the discontinued model for a massive discount.

Everyone's needs are different. But the common thread seems to be concentrate on maximising storage - an external HDD will drive you nuts compared to the transfer speed of the SSD.
1. SSD
2. RAM
3. CPU

Enjoy!

 

[blesscheese]

We keep talking in circles. I finally decided to waste 5 seconds looking for benchmarks for an i7 MBA vs. an i5, and found this (from 2013, but the general relations between the i7 & i5 should still hold).

http://www.anandtech.com/print/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u

In particular,
Bootup time: yes, the i7 benchmarked faster than the i5 -> 11.4 seconds for the i7 vs. 11.7 seconds for i5. But in everyday life, is this really a noticeable difference?

The benchmarks also show that the i7 is faster at doing more intensive CPU tasks, BUT...at the expense of battery life.

Before people go "But the i7 will get it done faster" the author note (regarding the battery life benchmarks):

"What's important to note about all of these tests is that the amount of work done per cycle of the test doesn't vary based on performance. There's enough idle time baked in to make sure that the Core i7 based 13-inch MBA isn't artifically penalized by having to do more work than the i5 model simply because it's faster."

He also noted earlier (this is just above the nice chart that shows the i7 runs at higher frequencies AND higher voltages, which as he notes below, is the worst possible combination):
"To understand the impact on thermals (and battery life) of the Core i7-4650U on the 13-inch MacBook Air you need to understand what's going on under the hood. To hit higher frequencies, the i7-4650U generally requires a higher voltage. Power consumption (and thus thermal dissipation) can scale linearly with frequency, but it scales quadratically with voltage. The combination of the two is quite possibly the worst case scenario from a power consumption standpoint."

So, with that in mind, the i7 actually beat the i5 on battery life for light workload tasks: 11.25 hours for the i7, vs. 11.03 for the i5. (note: this is about 13 minutes, or just under 2% difference)

However for medium workload tasks, the i7 was lower than the i5: 7.80 for the i7, vs. 8.93 for the i5. (14% difference in favor of the i5)

And again, the i7 was worse for high workload tasks: 4.68 for the i7, and 5.53 for the i5. (18% difference in favor of the i5)

I haven't seen anything more recent than this, but again, the general principles for i7 vs. i5 should still hold true.

So, reiterating awair above:
#1: SSD
#2: RAM
#1.5: buy a back up drive (my little soapbox)
#1: CPU

 

[NathanA]

If you are going to pay anything additional, I'd suggest going for additional storage rather than CPU.

This opinion seems to be shared by the vast majority of respondents here, but I'm going to go against the grain and disagree with this. Strongly.

If you have any money to burn above and beyond the base model specs, the last thing that you should do is throw it at the internal storage. Not for the previous reasons mentioned (external storage is cheaper / more plentiful, or that the trend is to move more and more stuff to the cloud), but rather because even if it is not a supported upgrade, the storage is the only component that is technically replaceable in the Air. (Not only that, but it is super easy to do.) The CPU and RAM, on the other hand, are soldered on the logic board. You won't be replacing or upgrading those components after-market.

Fortunately for you, Apple made the RAM decision easy by making 8GB standard on the base model 13" Air a few months ago, leaving only the CPU and storage as upgrade options. My hunch is that you probably are never going to notice not having the i7, so if it were me, I wouldn't bother. But I would allocate any extra funds that you do have towards the CPU upgrade first, well before I started thinking about the storage.

I have a 2010 Air that originally shipped with 128GB. A few months ago, I upgraded it to 256GB for about $80. So, less than half of what Apple wants to double the capacity at the time of sale, plus I also got to keep the 128GB module that I extracted from the machine when I upgraded it. (Also keep in mind that for the 2010 models, the jump in price when going from 128 to 256GB was *$300* back then). If you still have the computer in a couple-three years, and find that storage is getting a little tight, I would not be surprised if upgrades were to become available by that time for your model that are equally as cheap.

Now, if you actually *need* the space, then by all means, buy the capacity that you actually need up-front. Even though the storage blade is technically swappable, at this point getting a third-party replacement or upgrade for the current-gen machines for less than what Apple would charge you isn't a reality. But if you know for a fact it is going to take you a while to grow into the base-model storage, then that's what you should stick with for the time being.

-- Nathan

 

[infinitejest]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to write down your thoughts and experiences. This thread has been really helpful to me to make my final decision.

If you have any money to burn above and beyond the base model specs, the last thing that you should do is throw it at the internal storage. Not for the previous reasons mentioned (external storage is cheaper / more plentiful, or that the trend is to move more and more stuff to the cloud), but rather because even if it is not a supported upgrade, the storage is the only component that is technically replaceable in the Air. (Not only that, but it is super easy to do.) The CPU and RAM, on the other hand, are soldered on the logic board. You won't be replacing or upgrading those components after-market.

This is really interesting, I didn't know that is possible to replace the storage. Even better, this is one more reason why I'm certain that the 128 GB model is the right one for me.

So, with that in mind, the i7 actually beat the i5 on battery life for light workload tasks: 11.25 hours for the i7, vs. 11.03 for the i5. (note: this is about 13 minutes, or just under 2% difference)

However for medium workload tasks, the i7 was lower than the i5: 7.80 for the i7, vs. 8.93 for the i5. (14% difference in favor of the i5)

And again, the i7 was worse for high workload tasks: 4.68 for the i7, and 5.53 for the i5. (18% difference in favor of the i5)

I haven't seen anything more recent than this, but again, the general principles for i7 vs. i5 should still hold true.

I've seen this tests but I'm not so sure if it still holds true for the 5th generation chips.
However, since most of what I'm doing on my MacBook is somewhere between "light and medium workloads" (I'd assume), I can live with the differences in terms of battery life if it does hold true.

I'm still sure the i5 would do me just fine, but I'm gonna order the MacBook Air with the i7 anyway. And the reason why I'm doing this is the exact same placebo effect that @ItHurtsWhenIP described.
I just wanna avoid the situation that causes the pain of regretting saving the 100 bucks because I actually do need the additional power of the i7 one day. And even if I never do (which is actually quite likely), it's just the feeling to know it's here if I do, that is worth the extra cost to me.

Once again, thanks everyone for your helpful comments, I really appreciate it! Keep the discussion going.

 

[zcohenzion]

Hi all, I'm getting the 13" MBA as well (with 256gb ssd). For school, internet browsing, music/video streaming.

I'm also inclined to upgrade to i7 in case I need the power, and since I want my MBA to last 4 years in good shape.

It was mentioned the i7 might increase the heat while doing basic tasks.

Was wondering if anybody else has any knowledge of this?

 

[bniu]

Does it mean that the 2013 i7 MacBook Air is still faster than the 2015 MacBook i5 in terms of overall speed such as booting the MacBook or starting programs? Isn't a new Intel processor always faster than the previous?
Like I said, I'll be willing to spend the extra cost for the i7, if that means an increase in longevity.
And I store most of my big files on an external drive anyway, that's why the 128 GB should really be enough for me.

As you get more applications or if the OS updates get bigger, you want to make sure you will have enough room in the future. You also want to make sure you are not operating on a near full drive, as that will significantly slow the comp down.
You need breathing room in your OS/app drive to run really well.

128GB is small, 256GB safer, 500GB future proof.[/QUOTE]

For me, 128GB is microscopic, 256GB is what I want in my phone, 512GB is tiny, 1TB is so-so, 2TB is acceptable, 4TB is what I would be satisfied with, and 8TB is what I really want!

And yes, I actually do have a 1TB MBP already maxed out and my 4TB external drive also maxed out already.

 

[Boyd01]

what I want in my phone, 512GB is tiny, 1TB is so-so, 2TB is acceptable, 4TB is what I would be satisfied with, and 8TB is what I really want!

Sums it up pretty well for me too!

I have a 128gb iPhone 6s+. Even with the 512gb ssd, there isn't enough room to back it up on my MBA.

 

[NathanA]

For me, 128GB is microscopic, 256GB is what I want in my phone, 512GB is tiny, 1TB is so-so, 2TB is acceptable, 4TB is what I would be satisfied with, and 8TB is what I really want!

...I'm not sure why you attributed the quote to me? This was written by bniu, above...

...

-- Nathan

 

[Boyd01]

...I'm not sure why you attributed the quote to me? This was written by bniu, above.

Sorry, I fixed the attribution. Looks like the forum software confused me by including quoted text from an earlier post that I cancelled.

 

[infinitejest]

Hi all, I'm getting the 13" MBA as well (with 256gb ssd). For school, internet browsing, music/video streaming.

I'm also inclined to upgrade to i7 in case I need the power, and since I want my MBA to last 4 years in good shape.

It was mentioned the i7 might increase the heat while doing basic tasks.

Was wondering if anybody else has any knowledge of this?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7113/2013-macbook-air-core-i5-4250u-vs-core-i7-4650u/4

Average temperatures aren't substantially higher on the i7, however you will notice that there's a column for max observed temperature on the bottom of the chassis where the upgraded MacBook Air does show a considerably higher temperature. The higher temp isn't sustained but I did record occasional blips up to 46.6 °C on the bottom of the chassis while the i5 model pretty much topped out at its sustained temperature. Internal temps are obviously much higher as well.

^this.
And from other research I did, I found that there shouldn't be much of a difference unless you push the processor to its limit.

For me, 128GB is microscopic, 256GB is what I want in my phone, 512GB is tiny, 1TB is so-so, 2TB is acceptable, 4TB is what I would be satisfied with, and 8TB is what I really want!

And yes, I actually do have a 1TB MBP already maxed out and my 4TB external drive also maxed out already.

Sums it up pretty well for me too!

I have a 128gb iPhone 6s+. Even with the 512gb ssd, there isn't enough room to back it up on my MBA.

Still not sure why anyone would need so much storage unless you're working for Pixar and you're doing video editing on a daily basis or you're collecting every game of the NBA season.
Sure, I could get a 8TB drive and store every single file I can find on it, but the real question is do I really need it? How much of the stuff on your 8TB do you actually use, view or whatever? And how much of it is just there so that you have it?
Every year or so I browse through my external drive and clean up all the files I haven't used in forever - makes room for new and as long as my photo library hasn't grown to 500 GB I will always have enough space on it.

No offense, I'm sure you guys have your reasons. But the point is, everyone has different needs. And for some people, 500GB is far more than they will ever need.

 

[kiwipeso1]

Well, congrats, you are basically using the MBA the way it was designed. Reality is, eventually we'll all be putting our stuff on the cloud, and the internal drive will likely only have the OS and a couple other files on it.

I live and work in an area where the cloud is more pipe dream than reality, and need to carry stuff on my internal drive. (My iTunes library is about 60 GB of music, all ripped from CD's, and my photo library is about 30GB, and I like having that on my internal drive...)

Relying on internet access always being there for your essential files doesn't work when the ISP doesn't.

 

[Boyd01]

Apparently, "it takes a village" to decide what kind of computer you need.