Also for the people that are on the fence about the i5 vs i7 question. If you are buying a $2000 computer why not spend the extra $200 to further future proof the system. Who knows what Apple or any other software manufacture will do with hyper threading in the coming years. It could make a large difference. Thats just my 2 cents.
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Why i7 Is Better Than i5?
- Thread starter kevhui
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It did a episode of The Big Bang Theory non HD in like 2 to 3 minutes i think. I wasn't really paying attention to the time since i was showing a friend the new computer. But once i was done talking the movie was done so 2-3 minutes sounds right. For a 40 minute HD tv show it takes like 20 minutes to do .mkv to h.264. On my Macbook Pro it would take like 2 hours.
So on an i5 that same non-HD convert would take, what, maybe 2 1/2 to 4 minutes? You'll have to ask yourself, is that saved 30-45 seconds worth $200?
your argument has a logical fallacy... what if it takes 2 days with i7 and 3 days with i5.. you save a whole day!
Personally, the decision for me came because I wanted the best of the best. No point in buying a top of the line iMac without the top of the line CPU, GPU, and gratuitous amounts of RAM.
(I realize these things aren't 'top of the line' in the PC world)
(I realize these things aren't 'top of the line' in the PC world)
Well it's not just $200 dollars, because I can't buy the i7 from Amazon. Which means that you most likely have to pay sales tax when picking it up from Apple. $2000+Free Shipping for the i5 from Amazon.com, or $2200+9.5% Local Sales Tax($209)=$2409. That's a $400 dollar difference. I'd much rather take that cash and bump up the ram. Especially when there really isn't a large difference in real world tasks.
Also with the i7 you get to see this in istat when you handbrake a movie. A thing of beauty.
Indy, is that iStat in the taskbar the standard one or is it different than the iStat in the dashboard?
Great point. I'm wrestling with this decision right now. I'm leaning toward the i5 but I'm going to wait and see if there are any Black Friday deals that might change my mind.