i5 vs. i7 iMac 27 inch?

raidergolf

I am about to buy my first mac and am going with the new 27 inch iMac but I can't decide on the i5 or i7. Is the i7 worth the extra $200? As far as I know they both have the same components except for the processor. Also, from my research online, speeds don't look to be all that much faster with the i7. Any recommendations would help!

kingofsomewherehot

CPU speed specs may not be that much higher... but the i7 is a much higher performance processor. Eventually (a year from now?) OSX will be able to leverage more of its capabilities, giving the i7 a longer useful life.

galore

Quote:

Originally Posted by raidergolf


I am about to buy my first mac and am going with the new 27 inch iMac but I can't decide on the i5 or i7. Is the i7 worth the extra $200? As far as I know they both have the same components except for the processor. Also, from my research online, speeds don't look to be all that much faster with the i7. Any recommendations would help!

I've got an I5. The only time the computer feels slow is when it needs to spin up the hard disk drive. I don't believe that the CPU speed difference between the I5 and I7 trumps IO limits.

Marvin

The i7 was benchmarked at 35% faster than the i5:



http://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/14/...-improvements/



and nearly equals the Mac Pro.



Cinebench gives the same result: i5 = 12,000, i7 = 15,500



You won't necessarily notice that difference in everyday tasks but you will during long rendering, encoding and processing tasks.



The i5 is probably a safer bet though, the i7's have had some shipping and quality problems.



http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/24/c...ncluding-ours/

haveaniceday

Personally I go with i7.