Previous Gen i7 vs. current i5 for longevity

[jerwin]

Well, you might get lucky and see things labeled with things such as "CRITICAL error" generated at a fast clip. But things usually aren't so blatant. It takes some level of experience to differentiate whining programs from serious issues.

 

[sasha.danielle]

Well, you might get lucky and see things labeled with things such as "CRITICAL error" generated at a fast clip. But things usually aren't so blatant. It takes some level of experience to differentiate whining programs from serious issues.

What forum would be the best place to ask advice on this?

 

[bent christian]

So, I opened a document that was bogging down my Mac in both Word and Pages. I took a screen shot of CPU usage and also RAM usage. The first shot shows memory usage while using Word; the second shows CPU usage. The third shot is of CPU usage while using Pages. I didn't take another shot of memory usage while using Pages because RAM usage didn't fluctuate at all while the machine became bogged down while using either Pages or Word. CPU usage went up for both though--up to 80% with Word and 100% with Pages--in moments where my typing was completely bogging down the application (and by this I mean a huge lag between when I typed something and when it appeared on the screen. Again this doesn't seem to affect other applications running.

Remember, again, this is on rMB, so a very different scenario, but I'd like to figure out where my usage is most taxing my system so I can make sure I'm amply supported with my iMac.

Does this seem like something for an i5?

You can see the massive amounts of idle CPU usage. This does not appear to be an issue related the the processor.

The system is using a lot of RAM. I don't even use that much when encoding video out of Adobe Premiere. You have a gig an a half left this point. It's also using Swap, which means the system is using the boot drive as memory. Swap is very slow compared to physical memory and something the system will go to only when absolutely necessary.

My conclusion: Spend you money on RAM, not the i7 processor. Current i5s are very capable.

 

[jerwin]

What forum would be the best place to ask advice on this?

Hmm. MacOSX forum and macbook forums, maybe? I mean, I have no real conception of how slow the macbook retina is supposed to be. Is it slow because you're somehow expecting too much of it, or is it slow because there's something wrong with the software on your machine?

Safari seems to be the main consumer of ram. Do you have a lot of stuff in your Reading list? Quite a few tabs open? Are you using Rapport-- a banking security program?

 

[sasha.danielle]

Hmm. MacOSX forum and macbook forums, maybe? I mean, I have no real conception of how slow the macbook retina is supposed to be. Is it slow because you're somehow expecting too much of it, or is it slow because there's something wrong with the software on your machine?

Safari seems to be the main consumer of ram. Do you have a lot of stuff in your Reading list? Quite a few tabs open?

The machine is not slow. I don't do CPU-heavy tasks on it, but in everyday casual use I don't see any difference between this and a rMBP.

I'll try I the OSX forum. I've already tried in the MacBook forum and the Mac applications forum.
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You can see the massive amounts of idle CPU usage. This does not appear to be an issue related the the processor.

The system is using a lot of RAM. I don't even use that much when encoding video out of Adobe Premiere. You have a gig an a half left this point. It's also using Swap, which means the system is using the boot drive as memory. Swap is very slow compared to physical memory and something the system will go to only when absolutely necessary.

My conclusion: Spend you money on RAM, not the i7 processor. Current i5s are very capable.

Hmmm... Interesting. I didn't think the app itself was using lots, but I guess the machine is using tons. I'll have to research what Swap is a bit and check if it's normal for word processors to use it.

 

[bent christian]

Hmmm... Interesting. I didn't think the app itself was using lots, but I guess the machine is using tons. I'll have to research what Swap is a bit and check if it's normal for word processors to use it.

OSX will use drive Swap when physical memory resources are considered low. I don't know that here is much you as a user can do to adjust this. If there is - DON'T. You just need more memory. PERIOD! This is actually a good thing. You can change out/add RAM yourself in the 27" and will likely be less costly than the upgraded processor. Get the i5 with 8GB and buy another 8GB aftermarket. I think you will be happy.

 

[sasha.danielle]

OSX will use drive Swap when physical memory resources are considered low. I don't know that here is much you as a user can do to adjust this. If there is - DON'T. You just need more memory. PERIOD! This is actually a good thing. You can change out/add RAM yourself in the 27" and will likely be less costly than the upgraded processor. Get the i5 with 8GB and buy another 8GB aftermarket. I think you will be happy.

That's cool. Thanks! I might still spend the money on either the extra processor speed out extra ssd anyway. I can buy ram anytime in the following month or two.
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Hmm. MacOSX forum and macbook forums, maybe? I mean, I have no real conception of how slow the macbook retina is supposed to be. Is it slow because you're somehow expecting too much of it, or is it slow because there's something wrong with the software on your machine?

Safari seems to be the main consumer of ram. Do you have a lot of stuff in your Reading list? Quite a few tabs open? Are you using Rapport-- a banking security program?

Maybe 4 or 5 tabs. There's maybe 3 things in my reading list.

 

[sasha.danielle]

I wonder if Adblock in Safari is what's using up so much memory there. The system overall does seem to be using lots. With nothing open the computer is still running at 3gb. I've been meaning to do a clean restore for a while anyway. There are a ton of processes running, which doesn't seem right.

 

[bent christian]

I wonder if Adblock in Safari is what's using up so much memory there. The system overall does seem to be using lots. With nothing open the computer is still running at 3gb. I've been meaning to do a clean restore for a while anyway. There are a ton of processes running, which doesn't seem right.

I use Adblock in all browsers. It doesn't use much memory. It's entirely possible that the usage is coming from your text documents. Many pages with active mark-ups like you posted might cause the excessive memory usage. I can't say from experience. My machine is basically a graphics and imaging workstation.

 

[sasha.danielle]

Well, I tried an i5 in Best Buy yesterday. I was a bit in love. That's an impressive machine. I didn't have time to try one of my text docs on it. I will next time. But right now, I'm thinking:

i5 3.2 ghz, M390 GPU, 512gb SSD, and I'll probably buy another 16gb RAM aftermarket

 

[jerwin]

probably buy another 16gb RAM aftermarket

It's quite difficult to use more than 16 GB if you don't use certain Adobe products, or edit video, or use virtual machines. Though once, one of my Microsoft Edge instances developed a really massive memory leak and...

If money's tight, use the savings elsewhere.

 

[sasha.danielle]

It's quite difficult to use more than 16 GB if you don't use certain Adobe products, or edit video, or use virtual machines. Though once, one of my Microsoft Edge instances developed a really massive memory leak and...

If money's tight, use the savings elsewhere.

Logic Pro X will use it. I'm not really worried about the RAM, because I can buy that anytime. I'm not even figuring RAM into my budget for the machine. If I'm low on RAM for a month or two, so be it. My main concern is to get the initial purchase right. I totally hear what you're saying though.