What would the benefits be of each if the Macbook Air would have an upgraded RAM (8GB) and an I7 Processor vs a Macbook Pro with Retina Display (comes stock with upgraded RAM 8GB but I5 Processor). So what would be the overall differences between them if they are both 13" screens and are only a $50 difference.
Thanks!
What i7’s and i5’s are we talking about? Without specific model numbers, those labels mean nothing.
An i5-4308U or i5-4300M will absolutely thrash an i7-4600U, and will thrash older 2 core 4 thread i7’s by even more. Similaryly, an i7-4600U will wallop an i5-4300U or any older 2 core 4 thread i5’s.
Sorry I’m not that knowledgeable about computers but I’m talking about the i5-3210M (stock with Macbook Pro) vs. the i7-4650U (upgraded) and along with this I would like to know what the pro’s and con’s are of each computer. Thanks!
Alright. That, I can work with.
The macbook pro will have superior screen quality, but you’ll sacrifice battery life, and it’ll probably run hotter. The Air will likely perform better, as well.
I would recommend the Macbook Air here, so long as you’re okay with the screen. That i7 4650U is a haswell chipset that will offer outstanding performance and efficiency, especially with properly optimized programs that take advantage of its updated instruction set. The i5 3210M is an ivy bridge chip (outdated microarchitecture) that requires much more power for (in most cases, especially with graphics) lower performance.
Do you know anything about the new Pro’s and Air’s and the Boswell chips that they’ll have?
Sorry if I sound harsh, but it’s Broadwell, not Boswell. That have been autocorrect.
Broadwell is the die shrink of Haswell. Intel operates on a tick-tock cycle. They die shrink, then put a new architecture on the same node. Haswell is the tick - a brand new microarchitecture, and Broadwell is the tock - the die shrink. Performancewise, they’ll be almost equal, though Broadwell may be able to get a small boost off of clock speeds (think 5 percent-ish). However, graphics performance will likely see a much larger jump, so that is something to consider.
To sum it up: Broadwell may offer slightly better battery life and cpu performance, and will likely boost graphics performance significantly.
Yeah that was my phone sorry… But thank you for your understanding! If that’s the case I will probably wait till the new Macs come out and decide from there!
@hungryteenager - The fact that the i7 is 1.7 GHz and the i5 is 2.6 GHz doesn’t make a difference? Are the differences in the chipsets large enough to really make a difference to the average consumer user, who is going to be browsing, writing papers, maybe watching some movies?
I’m genuinely curious, partly because I’m deciding between a new Air and a new Pro myself.
@juillet
First, the i5 has a much higher power envelope than the i7 (35 watt TDP vs 17). Second, the i7 is based on the Haswell microarchitecture, while the i5 is based on Ivy Bridge, which is itself a die shrink of Sandy Bridge.
Second, the 1.7 GHz is a base clock, as is the 2.5 GHz on the i5. Chips can adjust their clock speeds on the fly. Discounting overclocking, the i7 can reach up to 3.3 GHz, and the i5 can reach 3.1 GHz. And the i7 uses less power at that point.
Haswell is a MUCH more efficient and powerful design than Ivy Bridge, and also has an updated x86 instruction set. Once programs start taking advantage of the updated instructions, performance will increase dramatically.
In addition, the Haswell i7 offers a superior GPU. Between the improved power consumption and performance per watt, graphics performance, and CPU performance, the i7-4650U is superior in basically every way, which should be noticeable, especially once it starts aging.
So basically what you’re saying is that the only real advantage the MacBook Pro has over the MacBook Air is the upgraded screen?
It depends on the configurations of the Pro and Air. For the models that the OP is deciding between, the screen really is the biggest thing going for the pro.