MBA CPU 11" vs 13", i5 vs i7 differences in performance?

[NiKeFiDO]

A two-part question (or four part, since there are 4 possible configurations).

I'm wondering what the speed increase might be between the i5 and the i7 on the Macbook Air's. Additionally between the 11" vs the 13" MBAs?

I'm looking into getting the 11" Macbook Air since I'd like something I can more easily travel with. I'm curious as to whether the processor upgrade is worth it.

Primary purposes:

* Web development (But see next point)
* Virtual Machine for Linux (Most likely Ubuntu Server, most likely no GUI, for running web applications that I've developing). Probably also a VM for running Windows purely for browser testing
* Light photoshop to support web dev, not hard-core (No designing, just cutting images out already-made designs)
* Possibly, maybe playing the SC3 games as they come out (I have a PC tho, might just use that...)


These all run fine (Well, I don't have a windows VM on it...) on my mid-2010 MCP, 13" 2.4Ghz Core 2 duo, so I'm thinking I shouldn't be concerned. I've even played sc2 on it, but not at with any great performance.

Thanks for any info

 

[Koing]

I'd be interested to know as well.

Koing

 

[dagamer34]

Unless you have an SSD in your current 13" MacBook Pro already, any differences in CPU speed won't matter. Everything will be faster. EVERYTHING!

The real issue between the 11" and 13" is what screen size and resolution is most comfortable for you. Or if you really need an integrated SD card slot. That's about it.

 

[dclive]

Yep. Unless you're doing Photoshop or something similar on the high end, you'll never notice a difference (and we know you're not, because you're using an 11" screen).

But the SSD's difference will be incredible. It's stunning. You'll never want to go to spinning disks again.

 

[span01]

Yep, SSD is the deal breaker no doubt. The IvyBridge CPU's all seem to be doing fine. Been having a look at some YouTube benchmarking and the new CPU's all are comparable or even beat the 2010 MBP.

 

[Koing]

I wonder how it compares to my 2.1 C2D in iMovie for encoding sort 2min clips...not that it takes that that much time to do a short encode.

It's hard to get a comparison of the new stuff to a 4yr old cpu

Pretty amazing that a 4yr old laptop is going strong still.

I'll go to the Mac store sometime with my SD card to see how fast it encodes videos in.

Koing

 

[TheStu]

I wonder how it compares to my 2.1 C2D in iMovie for encoding sort 2min clips...not that it takes that that much time to do a short encode.

It's hard to get a comparison of the new stuff to a 4yr old cpu

Pretty amazing that a 4yr old laptop is going strong still.

I'll go to the Mac store sometime with my SD card to see how fast it encodes videos in.

Koing

Especially if the video is local to the hard drive and not coming off the SD card, then I would imagine that the new MacBook Air would trounce the piss out of your existing Mac.

All that said, if you are happy with your existing Mac, then drop an SSD in there if you haven't already

 

[alkemyst]

i run a mid 2010 MBP and VM's and coverged lion/win 7 are snappy

 

[RichieZ]

negligible, my work 13" air is the upgraded i7 while other coworkers have the i5. honestly I can't tell a difference other than my computer gets hotter under load and the battery life is slightly worse.

 

[Koing]

Especially if the video is local to the hard drive and not coming off the SD card, then I would imagine that the new MacBook Air would trounce the piss out of your existing Mac.

All that said, if you are happy with your existing Mac, then drop an SSD in there if you haven't already

Videos are local to the hard drive.

I want to find some cold hard figures to compare in video encoding. But due to the age of my Macbook it's going to be hard to find.

No SSD on my Macbook. It's SATA 1 and I'd feel aggrieved paying £200 for a 256GB SSD to have it capped but my laptops SATA 1. I'll go take a look at some SSD on ebay.

Koing

 

[dclive]

Videos are local to the hard drive.

I want to find some cold hard figures to compare in video encoding. But due to the age of my Macbook it's going to be hard to find.

No SSD on my Macbook. It's SATA 1 and I'd feel aggrieved paying £200 for a 256GB SSD to have it capped but my laptops SATA 1. I'll go take a look at some SSD on ebay.

Koing

Don't let the SATA "1" business stop you; the top speed isn't the benefit of SSD, it's the massively faster random file access, which won't overwhelm SATA1.

Just do it.

 

[TheStu]

I dropped an SSD into an OG MacBook, that sucker flies now. Boots incredibly fast, apps launch almost immediately, and it's responsive all the time.s

 

[NiKeFiDO]

I ordered the i5 11" MBA and a this speck case: http://www.amazon.com/Speck-PixelSle.../dp/B004LWL9A8

 

[mike95]

I am not able to copy and past all the pictures, videos, and summaries and hope the forum guys realize this given how specific the results are to this post.

I did a full comparison of both the i5 and the i7 with identical specs otther than the CPU specifically because I had the same question in mine. In reality, I had a minor problem with one causing me to buy the other and before returning the other one I ran through all the tests and posted the results online. It's very thourough, battery, heat, performance, fan noise, etc.

Part one is here:
http://michael.olivero.com/post/2012/07/29/Macbook-Air-2012-i5-vs-i7-Heat-Fan-Battery-Speed-analysis.aspx

Part two is here:
http://michael.olivero.com/post/2012/08/01/Macbook-Air-2012-11-i5-vs-i7-Heat-Fan-Battery-Speed-Comparison-Part-2.aspx

 

[Pneumothorax]

I am not able to copy and past all the pictures, videos, and summaries and hope the forum guys realize this given how specific the results are to this post.

I did a full comparison of both the i5 and the i7 with identical specs otther than the CPU specifically because I had the same question in mine. In reality, I had a minor problem with one causing me to buy the other and before returning the other one I ran through all the tests and posted the results online. It's very thourough, battery, heat, performance, fan noise, etc.

Part one is here:
http://michael.olivero.com/post/2012/07/29/Macbook-Air-2012-i5-vs-i7-Heat-Fan-Battery-Speed-analysis.aspx

Part two is here:
http://michael.olivero.com/post/2012/08/01/Macbook-Air-2012-11-i5-vs-i7-Heat-Fan-Battery-Speed-Comparison-Part-2.aspx

Excellent article. The i7 upgrade is huge on these MBA's!