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Ordered Quad i5. After reading all these posts thinking of Switching to i7!
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The i5 will turbo boost up to 3.2 GHz and you get the better graphics card with this version which will probably helpful when you run programs at that high resolution. I think the i5 is the bang for your buck version especially since its $50 cheaper than the C2D with graphics card.
Just a note, but if $210 is an issue then you cannot afford the other version either. I saw a few other people mentioning the upgrade cost buy honestly, if you can buy the 27 quad i5 you can buy the 27 i7.
However, based on your described real needs, get the base 27. On perceived needs go i7 (perceived meaning you want it)
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3641&p=1
As you can see, on simple benchmarks the C2D does very well, then get into encoding, or even some games, and it suddenly falls behind, yet can occasionally come back to equality depending on how gpu taxed you become
Sure, most of us can afford the i7. But some of us (including me) chose the i5 because that already is a really fast processor (not everyone will notice the lack of Hyper-Threading) and the 165 euros I kept in my wallet can be used for Apple Care for example.
I did not want to invest in the Core 2 Duo anymore, but I also did not need i7's Hyper-Threading, so i5 for me.
It sounds a bit like some people here are thinking the i5 is a crappy processor compared to the i7, well it's not. Pretty sure a lot of people also chose the i7, just because it's the i7 (hey! look at this topic. ) Nothing wrong with that, just choose what suits you best...
3.6 GHz according to this interesting and informative PCWorld.com article (if it is indeed the i7 870 chip that Apple is using).
It's 7% of $2,200 not $200. The price of the I7 from Apple (the only place you can get the I7) is $2,200. So 7% of $2,200 is $154. Add those two together and you get $2,354 for the I7 from Apple.
Or you could go to someplace like Amazon, for example, and get the I5 for $1,994. Free shipping and no tax. That's a $360 difference which is nothing to sneeze at. With that $360 you could get AppleCare, an EyeTV Hybrid, and a brand new copy of the Mac version of Bioshock, for example. I'm not saying that's what I would do (in all likelihood I won't do anything with the extra money except for maybe AppleCare) but I'm just throwing that out there. I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as many seem to be on these forums so I was merely curious to know what the difference between I5 and I7 really is so I can judge whether it's worth $360 more for me. So far, I'm not convinced. The linked article earlier in this thread was particularly interesting.
Whatever happens Apple sure knows how to drive us crazy.
-PN
HT really is for multi threaded apps, However, the answer of Apple to non HT processor is Grand Central Dispatch.
Basically HT is a hardware implementation for multi threaded apps, while Grand Central, is a (OS) implementation of multi threaded apps.
So if you're in Snow Leopard, i5 is essentially the same as i7, aside from the obvious 100mhz bump
Basically HT is a hardware implementation for multi threaded apps, while Grand Central, is a (OS) implementation of multi threaded apps.
So if you're in Snow Leopard, i5 is essentially the same as i7, aside from the obvious 100mhz bump
Are you sure this is accurate? HT is a CPU Level implementation which enables your CPU to effectively double its number of cores. To test this, encode a video and you will see 8 cores using 100% of a CPU rather than 4 (tested on a i7 Win 7 machine). Grand Central Dispatch is a S/W level version of this (which leads me to think it wont be nearly so effective).
In all PC benchmarks a i7 860 performs video encoding much faster than a i5 750. I assume it will be the same for a Mac.
I ordered the i7Mac last week for around $2380, then I did some Googling yesterday and realized that the only advantage of the i7 over the i5 (other than +5% clock speed) is hyperthreading, which almost none of my apps benefit from. Cancelled the order yesterday, ordered the i5 from Amazon today for over $400 less.
If you're getting the Core i7 version, you're paying around $400 just for hyperthreading. Make sure you're going to use it.
If you're getting the Core i7 version, you're paying around $400 just for hyperthreading. Make sure you're going to use it.
Does the Adobe Creative Suite utilize hyperthreading? If not CS4, is there any indication that CS5 will?
This is an even better deal:
http://www.macconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=10682076
-PN
http://www.macconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=10682076
-PN
I have to go with the i5, which I will order in the next month. It is the best "bang for the buck" imo. The performance differences between it and the i7 only apply to a very small niche of users.
I'll take the savings and buy a new Apple router.
I'll take the savings and buy a new Apple router.
Interesting. Does Mac Connection charge sales tax? If not, that's a better deal than Amazon or the Apple Education Store. If so, Amazon wins by about $60.
Good question. I don't know. It's been eons since I ordered anything from them.
-PN
That's a good deal, but MacConnection has some bad reviews on ResellerRatings. Most of them just complain about late shipping though. Not sure if it's worth the risk.
I've bought several macs, ipods, etc. through MacConnection and have always had fantastic experiences (even turned my mom onto her first mac through them). They normally also offer great deals on upgrading the RAM, but I haven't seen any of those on the new iMac's yet.
I live in California and get free shipping and NO sales tax. Shipping has always been fast for me, so I'm not sure what problems others have had. I plan on buying my new iMac from them next month!
Do we know if it's possible to turn off Hyper-Threading? Or 'how' it could be turned off if needed?
I'm still conflicted. I'm reading some things might run slower than the i5 with HT but i7 would rock on video editing/encoding. If true (god only knows), then having the ability to turn off HT would be the best of all worlds?
I'm still conflicted. I'm reading some things might run slower than the i5 with HT but i7 would rock on video editing/encoding. If true (god only knows), then having the ability to turn off HT would be the best of all worlds?
You do not need to turn it off. At worst you will see a slight drop in performance of some tasks with it on, but you will see a MAJOR improvement in performance in other tasks with it on. I dont undertsand how so may benchmarks can give different results, but I like PCPer and here is their quote about the Windows version of Handbrake:
Handbrake easily takes advantage of HyperThreading to help deliver a 37% performance gain over the Core i5-750 while only having a 5% clock speed advantage
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=781&type=expert&pid=5
That may not translate 100% to OSX but it should. Its CPU level multiple core processing and should be (more or less) O/S independent.
So I was in a similar circumstance as the OP but in the opposite manner. Really had my heart set on the i7 when I was seriously considering the iMac. However after research and really thinking about what I want to and will be using my computer for (being honest with myself), I came to the realization that the i5 will be the better fit. It will be more than capable of handling everything that I will throw at it and need it to do. While the i7 might out perform it different circumstances, the i5 over the C2D made more sense to me than the i7 over the i5. Plus I plan on putting a SSD inside once the prices drop a bit and I can get the size I want. I will see a larger increase in performance with the SSD than going with the i7 for my every day use.