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    $150 to upgrade to i5 from a c2d... need help

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by no1up, Nov 13, 2011.

  1. no1up

    no1up Notebook Evangelist

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    I can upgrade my c2d for an i5 MBP... (13" c2d or 13" i5), keep in mind for me at least, $150 is a big sacrifice and will set me back quit a bit... worth it?? Will I use it and be like "wow!! WAY better!!" lol
     
    no1up, Nov 13, 2011
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  2. xfiregrunt

    xfiregrunt Notebook Evangelist

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    Not for every day tasks.

    You will notice a slight speed bump, and Matlab, Mathematica will run better. Some games (especially highly CPU dependent games like SC2) will run better.

    You would have to give usage requirements to get a helpful response. If you are an every day user it would be better to spend the money on an SSD, that will "seem" faster to you.
     
    xfiregrunt, Nov 13, 2011
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  3. no1up

    no1up Notebook Evangelist

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    Its not a work machine... school work.. browsing.. some 2d gaming.. music syncing mu iphone and such. Downloading music and movies.. watching movies.
     
    no1up, Nov 13, 2011
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  4. xfiregrunt

    xfiregrunt Notebook Evangelist

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    You aren't going to see a difference unless you browse with 100 + tabs open.

    The only question is what constitutes school work? A Core 2 Duo is in processor terms much weaker then an i5 Sandy Bridge. However every day users are constrained by their hard drive a lot more then their processor. If you are running CPU dependent apps for school, an i5 will be a lot faster. I for example run LT Spice, Altium, Solidworks, Matlab, Mathematica, ModelSim, for class etc (all processor and sometimes GPU aided) so I notice a difference.
     
    xfiregrunt, Nov 13, 2011
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  5. no1up

    no1up Notebook Evangelist

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    Iwork.. and pixelmator. I think im gonna do it. I really love my current mac, so I think the new one would be better! Lol its just that the c2d is super fast, although sometimes it will show the little wheel.. I came from a 1.6 i7 asus to my current mac slower yes, but I would do it again in a heart beat.
     
    no1up, Nov 13, 2011
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  6. Mitlov

    Mitlov Shiny

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    Given your usage, a solid state drive is the most effective performance upgrade you could make. Ordinary tasks are much faster on a mid-range CPU than on a netbook CPU, but they're not night-and-day faster from a previous-generation mid-range CPU (Core 2 Duo) than on a current-generation mid-range CPU (i5).
     
    Mitlov, Nov 13, 2011
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  7. shriek11

    shriek11 Notebook Deity

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    This is most likely the HDD than your processor. Have you checked the activity manager? I have checked mine and the processor would be below 10% usage and I would get beach balls. Since I upgraded to an SSD, I think I have only gotten beach ball two times and that only with mutliple tabs in firefox / google, but never on application launch unlike before.
     
    shriek11, Nov 13, 2011
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