Computer nerds - need some processor help here

tonez

tonez

Club Member
YES I own a computer shop. BUT, on this one I'm not 100% sure how much difference I'll see. I'm thinking of offing my macbook air (purchased in Janurary) for one of the new Core i7 ones. Here is the processor comparison of what I have now vs what the new one would have:
http://ark.intel.com/compare/37262,54617

The systems both would have 4GB DDR3 and a 256 SSD. The only difference between them is the processor. Let me know what you think. This Core i7 has two cores like the Core 2 Duo, but double the threads, L3 cache instead of L2, faster bus speed, etc.

Just looking for a general % increase you'd assume I would see. This MBA has been great, but lags sometimes when playing streaming video like Netflix, Youtube, etc.
 
Now you've gone and done it. Expect 22 replies telling you that Mac's don't ever have problems because they've never experienced a problem with theirs blah blah blah. As for difference. You won't see it. It's just way too fast of a change to make a difference that you'll sit there and go "Holy shit, that's fast". So it comes down to personal preferrence.
 
Yes, before someone even replies with it, please hold your unhelpful "Buy a Windows PC" posts. I own about 40 of them lol. This MBA serves my needs perfectly for every day work/personal use, plus its SUPER light weight for taking it out of the office. I hated carting around my Dell Studio. Loved that laptop, but hated its size and bulk. Besides, you can't use the iOS SDK on Windows :)
 
I don't think you'll see much improvement, except for getting rid of that crApple, that's priceless in its own right.

I just got a 2600K, went from a Q6600, and it's night/day difference. OC'd the 2600k to 5ghz too. :) Of course this is a desktop pc and nothing like mobil.
 
Geekbench scores are 100% improvement. Way more cache, HT, and turbo boost. My i5 MBP would smoke my old C2D.

ZaUx0.jpg
 
The die architecture of the i7 is smaller so it runs cooler and uses less wattage. the i-7 uses a built in video gpu on chip to process video coding. it's a sandy bridge processor so it uses the new memory controller and has the new turbo boost which over clocks the processor on demand so you dont have to do it.
read this article it explains everything very well.
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i7/Intel-Core%20i7%20Mobile%20i7-2677M.html

another link to intel's site
http://ark.intel.com/products/54617
 
My friend has a 15" MBP with the C2D. I have a 15" MBP with the i7. Other specs are the same and I really see no difference between the two. Granted I havent really done anything on here that these are designed for.
 
The most important questions is: what are you using the laptop for? If you are just web browsing, then there is nothing to be gained.
 
x2, most mac applications are not going to flex your system hard enough for you to notice the gains, dvd ripping, and some visual studio stuff, audio compiling etc. i would imagine the i7 would be the stronger more efficient machine.
 
He wants more CPU power for YouTube and NetFlix (I assume HD). This will give him exactly what he wants. Don't forget Sandy Bridge also has much higher memory bandwidth than the C2D setup.
 
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