13 inch MBP only offer dual core?

[zokudu]

Hey guys,

I've been considering buying a 13 inch macbook pro for a little bit but I noticed they only offer dual core options in them. Do you guys feel this limits performance in anyway?

I don't need a ton of horsepower, I need a good battery life and for it to be portable and light which the 13 inch offers but I'm just a tad hesitant to take a step backwards froma quad core to a dual core.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

What are you working with now for a laptop? (I'm assuming you're not comparing it to the FX-8320 rig in your signature?)

 

[zokudu]

What are you working with now for a laptop? (I'm assuming you're not comparing it to the FX-8320 rig in your signature?)

Of course not. :biggrin: It was an old Dell Inspiron 1545. A Core 2 Duo of some sort, 4GB of RAM, and some discrete ATI mobility chip. Either way the backlight broke on the screen and it was older so I'm not itching to fix it. I realize my wording was odd in the OP about 'taking a step backwards' because a Haswell dual core is definitely better than my current Core 2 Duo in my laptop but I was just under the impression everythign had moved toward low power quad cores. Especially since the chips in the 13 inch macbook pro are labeled at i5's.

 

[postmortemIA]

I have one of these, but it is not my main machine. It is dual core, but has 2 more HT cores that do make a difference.
It hasn't feel slow in anything yet. I love the battery life.

 

[zokudu]

I have one of these, but it is not my main machine. It is dual core, but has 2 more HT cores that do make a difference.
It hasn't feel slow in anything yet. I love the battery life.

Did you get the i7 or the i5? I was planning on purchasing the i5 version which I had assumed was not hyperthreaded.

 

[Samastrike]

Mobile i5's are hyperthreaded

 

[zokudu]

That doesn't sound too bad then. I was following what I know about the desktop chips where only the i7's are hyperthreaded. In regards to memory, do you guys see a use for the 16GB or stick with the 8GB? I'm leaning towards the 8GB.

Again this is purely a mobile device. I use the machine in my signature for all of my high end computing needs.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

RAM isn't upgradeable anymore, so get the 16 if you can afford it.

Yeah, mobile i5s are 2 core / 4 thread with turbo boost. For a mobile light-duty device (internet access, facebook, etc.) I don't think you're giving up much sticking with a dualie. It's not like you're going to be gaming with it. (?)

If you really needed the mobile workstation thing, there's always the 15" rMBP with the 4C/8T i7 in it. But $$$.

 

[postmortemIA]

There's steep upgrade price for RAM. Lots of cash straight to Apple bank. Probably whole laptop will obsolete before you hit ceiling with 8GB.

 

[v-600]

I've got one at the moment. Most of the time its fine, but when importing or working with images I've found it can be noticeably slower. I've not had a chance to compare it to another laptop doing similar tasks though.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've got one at the moment. Most of the time its fine, but when importing or working with images I've found it can be noticeably slower. I've not had a chance to compare it to another laptop doing similar tasks though.

iPhoto is always slow, if you're using that.

 

[v-600]

Nah, I bought dad a Lytro for his birthday. Importing and rendering the photos took a lot longer than I thought it would. Not sure if its the processor or the task, but at least it only needs doing once and can be done as a batch when you import them if you want. I tend to leave it as it can take 20+ mins to import 30-40 photos.

Once done though the processor is fine it seems. Playing games its more limited by graphics, and I don't do any other photographic work.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Oh. Then I have no idea what's reasonable. Never used a Lytro.

 

[weevilone]

I use a dual core Air with 8GB for work and it's fine, even when I need to fire up a virtual machine. If it's not your heavy lifting box then I think you're over thinking this.

If you fancy battery life then a dual core is the way to go. If you don't have a specific need for 16GB RAM then it's probably not worth the price.

 

[StinkyPinky]

See my sig for my one. Runs great. Runs virtual machines with ease. The fast SSD probably helps with that.

But of course if you're going to do some really heavy work like number crunching or manipulating large image files, then the 15 inch quad core is the one to get