Intel Core i5 vs. Intel Core 2 Duo

I am going to buy a macbook for college. I am on a budget, I'd like to spend as little as possible. Currently I am debating buying the Macbook, or the Macbook pro. When I have configured both to my needs, there will be about a 600$ difference.

Now, the Macbook pro comes with an Intel Core i5 Processor. The Macbook comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor. Is the upgrade to the i5 worth 600$? How much of a difference of speed am I going to notice? I'm going to art college so I will be using this macbook primarily for Adobe Creative Suite 5, how much of an effect will those processors have on it? I need your opinions as to how much of a difference actually exists between the two processors.

 

Post the specs since you're only talking about generation lines and not specific CPUs. From my experience though, C2Ds are powerful enough and you won't see significant benefits going to Ci5 (and certainly not worth $600 alone for CPU differences).

 

That seems expensive for the upgrade... it would be worth considering it if MBP's other goodies (a metal case & stuff) really appeal to you.

 

Need more info, but generally speaking top end Core2Duo is plenty fast, not far behind the Core i* line. If you can develop the patience to wait an additional 5-10 seconds, you'll have a nice $600 to keep your wallet stuffed.

If you can, give the model # of the core2duo processor, and confirm which core i* processor (you said i5 in the title, i7 in the poll, and there are numerous variants within i5 and i7). Also, amount of RAM? Discrete vs. integrated GPU?

 

He also indicated he intends to us it with Adobe CS5. If that's his main focus in the purchase of this laptop, then the decision is a simple one: Get the one with four cores--they're more important than speed with editing programs--and all the RAM that will fit.

 

I thought the i7 in the Macbook pros only have 2 cores?

 

Actually it depends on its designation. I'm assuming this i5 is the four core version?

 

All mobile i5s are dual core last time I checked.

 

Not all of them. The ones with QM designation are quad-core.

 

First, why are you considering a macbook? For the battery life? For the style? IMO it might not be the best idea to seek performance on a macbook with tight budget.

 

Definitely worth it. You will not notice the difference unless you use the Core 2 and Core i machine side by side, but the Core i Macbook Pro is significantly faster and a worthy buy over the Core 2 Macbook. Also, is there no way to get the Pro cheaper through some student discount?

 

Good point. Macs aren't known for their budget friendliness--even with a student discount.

 

i dont think the macbookpro supports the mobile i7 quads.
if youre gonna be mainly using photoshop cs5 then a fast c2d would be enough.

 

The QMs are i7's IIRC.

According to Intel, the mobile i5's are all dual core.

Intel® Core™ i5 Mobile Processor - Specifications

 

Quad core i5-XX0QMs don't exist.

OP, if you are looking to do work in CS5 on OS X on a budget, I would recommend that you upgrade to a baseline MBP 15" with an i5 just so you get the benefit of TurboBoost and the dedicated GPU that the 15" and the 17" have.

 

Yeah, all the mobile i5s are dual cores; there is a desktop Core i5 quad, though, the i5-750.

 

The desktop core i series are even more confusing than the mobile ones given that some i5's are quads and some i7's are dual X_X

But yeah, OP, I'd look into your specific needs. Any reason you limit yourself to a Macbook and MBP? Is it OSX?

 

I want to build a rig around one of those so badly. It's a sweet processor for $200.

 

^ agree

asdasd

 

I personally wouldn't bother with a Mac, but that's my personal opinion/preference.

Anyway ... the i5 is an improvement over the Core2Duos, but certainly NOT worth the $600 upgrade.

Since you want to do Photoshop which is a heavily threaded program, I recommend you get an i7 quad core (720qm would be it's designation) and at least 4 GB RAM.

Since you are on a budget and a student, I would personally recommend you get a Windows 7 based laptop because for the same price you will probably have a much more powerful hardware at your disposal.

But also keep in mind that the i7 quads are not exactly battery friendly ... so for heavy work you will probably have to be plugged in.

 

if i was a student which i am , i wouldn't even consider a macbook. Its a rip off and seriously for the same price , u could get a high end gaming laptop. You can easily get a core i5 laptop within ur needs for $900-1000 rather than spending 1500 on a bloody macbook. There's nothing great about them except for their battery life in Mac OS which is literally useless due to lack of flash etc and acer timeline and other laptops can get 6 hours+ and give u cheap high performance laptops in 900... ur choice really but if u want to get ripped off by buying a macbook , get the i5 one since its more powerful.

 

You're correct. The alphabet soup of designations are sometimes confusing, and something I keep telling myself never to get involved in. Nevertheless, a quad core i5 is available.

 

Which ones? I can't seem to find a quad mobile i5.

 

Which ones(or one idk if there's only one or there's more anymore) are quad core? I know desktops have quad core i5's but mobile ones didn't as far as I can tell.

 

The others are correct in that the mobile version in dual core. I got my information from a listing in the current addition of PC World magazine which on second reading only specified i7 mobile CPU with quad-core capacity

 

I agree with Sean473's post above. If you are on a budget, go for a Windows based computer. Adobe CS5 runs perfectly fine on my Windows 7 computers. Apple hardware is overpriced and the Macbooks run hot. My roommate has a Unibody Macbook Pro that had lockups because of overheating. He was not even doing anything processor or graphics heavy...just surfing the web and coding java. What good is a "fast" processor if it constantly freezes up or downclocks because of thermal issues?

There is no way a Core i5 is worth $600 extra compared to a Core 2... Thinking about it, you can buy a retail Core i5 for $300 tops.

 

There's a graphics upgrade as well, not to mention what is most likely a newer chipset. I don't really think that it matters anyway. I value build quality and battery life a great deal. There is no other machine on the market that succeeds in doing so many things well.

Apple products are never the best at everything, rather, they are good at just about everything (barring cooling) and provide a very good user experience overall. Any given gaming laptop may run all of your games very well, but it can't leave the house without a power brick because it won't last for more than an hour and a half on battery. Your CULV laptop may have 10 hours of battery life, but what use is that if you can't run a program like PS CS5 well or play a game every once-in-a-while?

If you don't like OS X, just skip over Apple altogether. You don't need to pay Apple tax if you're planning on running W7 or Linux.

Personally, I can't find another laptop that suits my needs like a 15" MBP will. I want something that has good battery life, one of the i5/i7 dual core chips, switchable graphics support, solid build quality, and relatively low weight.

Envy 14 has pretty much everything there, but misses out on battery life. With the slice, it hits on all fronts except for size/weight. Also, I am wary about the E14's build quality because of the issues with the E17.

The new Acer Timelines aren't in consideration because of bad build quality and keyboard.

The Thinkpad T410 was my top pick for a few months, but there is no switchable graphics support and the graphics card itself is weak in comparison to the GT 330M.

That's just my view on the matter.

 

I've been searching for the right laptop for a long time. Everytime I find the right one for a good price, I read something like the batterly life is 1.5 hours, or it overheats, too heavy, not durable. I'm going to be taking this to all of my classes, I need it to be light, dependable, durable, good battery life, and be good at performing too of course. The reason I'm considering mac is mainly bc I can't find a good laptop with what I want and need for any less than the macs actually...and also I'm going to be majoring in illustration and illustration students usually prefer macs from what I hear.

 

It would not hurt to fill in the " What Laptop Should I Buy For School" form and put in a note that lists the two Macs you are considering. You'll get a few additional suggestions for Windows machines, as well as some comments on how the Macs work with your needs. For here, putting the full spec of the two units side by side will help...as others have said, you get more than a CPU upgrade, and adding faster memory, dedicated GPU, better HDD will all add a bit to performance.

To me, I would say the better spec unit is worth it if you want to get through college on one laptop. It will be less outdated by the time you graduate then buying a cheaper spec.

 

fill up the FAQ... we'll keep arguing here and it won't help but if ur a student , seriously, macbooks are not a choice IMO...

 

HP Envy 14. ~ 4 hrs battery, i5-450m, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, HD 5650, 5 lbs < $1100 shipped with student discount.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that any laptop (Windows or Mac) will severely drain the battery if you are doing intensive work without being plugged in (Photoshop or gaming - the latter you can even forget on a Mac for the most part and won't run so well on Windows either because virtually all components downclock when on battery), so you will end up with the same problem in the long run.

Macs are way overpriced for what they offer, and since you are on a budget, plus require something decent, you'll be essentially ripped of, or forced to buy previous generation technology which is being phased out already (irrespective of the fact it's nothing to sneeze at of course - but why bother with previous generation tech if newer one is available).

As I said earlier, it's your choice, but I personally wouldn't bother with Macs primarily because the price/performance ratio is abysmal at best.

 

i would suggest the toshiba r700. comes in many configurations and you could customize your own.
seems like its got everything you want and afaik its the only 13.3 to have an i7-620M (2cores) but is also rated at 8hr battery life. looks better than a mac too

 

This kid knows what he's talking about.

 

He might know what he's talking about, but he can't spell to save his life .

Where do people get off with these kind of blatantly false information? Photoshop is not a heavily threaded application (and why would it need to be? It only needs to react to one input at any one given time, with no background processes--this isn't a game). You will only see performance improvements on a multi-core/multi-threadded processor with select few plugins that are threaded.

You are right about the RAM, though. Adobe CS applications require massive amounts of RAM. 4GB would actually be the bare minimum for any serious work (say, 300DPI illustrations at 5000x3000 canvas in Photoshop).

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At the end of the day, I'm with the others in NOT RECOMMENDING a Mac for the abysmal price-to-performance ratio. All laptops will have their anecdotal horror-stories; Macs included. If you're going to base your purchasing decisions on horror-stories you read online, then you might as well not buy a single thing since every product will have its fair share of faulty goods.

 

Man, sarcasm is tough to convey implicitly in writing.

He talks about how "U wont get performance" which doesn't even make sense, and then he talks about a quad-core i7 which the MBP doesn't even have available.