MBA 11" - 1.6GHZ i5 vs 1.8GHZ i7

[JJ!]

Looking to get an 11" air whilst the interest free thing is still running. Happy with the HD size and the next size HD up is a considerable cost, but not sure what processor to go for.

The difference is £150.

Not entirely sure what the difference in speed etc will be, so any user opinions grateful.

 

[SamP]

Unless you're crunching video or doing serious media work get the i5.

 

[JJ!]

Will it run Adobe CS5.5 ok?

 

[SamP]

Yeah it'll run it fine. Im assuming you've got an iMac/Pro to do most of your editing on? Cant imagine doing design work/retouching on a 11'' screen day in day out would be any fun.

 

[Addicted]

The i5 is 2 cores hyperthreaded to 4 cores (2 real 2 virtual).
The i7 is the setup up having 4 cores with hyperthreading (4 real 4 virtual)

So it purely depends if you'll be doing any CPU-intensive tasks as SamP said, some heavy video/photo editing and stuff like that!

 

[Danny133]

My 11" 1.6 i5 runs everything .. literally everything and it never farts.

And i came from a 16GB RAM beast of an iMac to this ..

 

[SamP]

And i came from a 16GB RAM beast of an iMac to this ..

The SSD is the thing thats making it appear so fast.

 

[Danny133]

Whatever is "appears" to do ... in real world useage it is fast.

It does everything faster than my iMac. And it never once farted on CS5 or Aperture.

Never used video minus the quick test on iMovie so cant comment

 

[SamP]

What spec iMac did you have out of interest?

 

[Danny133]

2010 i3 - cant remember processor size .. upgraded to 16gb ram

Wasn't a slouch by any measure

 

[SamP]

i3. Lol. Was it a 21''?

 

[Danny133]

Yes what's amusing?

 

[glenn_adam_doble]

Will it run Adobe CS5.5 ok?

will run it fine but will be a mega pain doing anything on that size screen,

 

[wozzaa]

The i5 is 2 cores hyperthreaded to 4 cores (2 real 2 virtual).
The i7 is the setup up having 4 cores with hyperthreading (4 real 4 virtual)

So it purely depends if you'll be doing any CPU-intensive tasks as SamP said, some heavy video/photo editing and stuff like that!

Not in an air it isn't. The i7 is a dual core as well.

It isn't a huge difference between them, even heavy work you wouldn't want an air to do it on be wanting a Pro for that. The performance difference if you aren't doing anything majorly intensive is negligible. In certain tasks the i7 can be around 20-30% quicker though.