Help my Brother Decide: i5 or i7

[PapaSmurf6768]

Hey everyone,
Quick question for all of you. This year my brother will be a freshman at the Architecture program at University of Cincinnati. He is getting a new laptop for school since his current one is pretty dated. He's always been an Apple guy though and unfortunately I can't switch him over to PC So he's deciding between two Macbook Pros. I've already told him not to buy the overpriced Apple upgrades and that I'll install 8GB of RAM and an SSD for him, so the only thing left is the CPU. There is a model with an i5 for $1,100 and a model with an i7 for $1,400, the CPU being the only difference between the two once the RAM and SSD are in. So question is, he will be using Adobe Creative Suite 6 for college, and he is wondering if the i7 would be worth the extra $300 overall? I know the only difference is Hyperthreading, but was wondering if the 8 threads over 4 would make a significant enough difference to warrant $300. Also, if he gets the i7, he most likely won't be able to afford an SSD too.

So to make it short and sweet:
Which is better for Adobe CS6?
i7, mechanical hard drive, 8GB RAM for $1,400
i5, 256GB SSD, and 8GB RAM for $1,380

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[Josh Weston]

I'd go for the i5, personally.
The i5 shall be leagues ahead of what he's used to already, and the SSD shall astound him its responsiveness.

 

[seumasbeathan]

Is this one of the new macbook pro's?

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

Yup, the latest one.

 

[airdeano]

congrats on the college life...

the adobe is thread intensive application. the i5 can handle the tasks
pretty good. but once the scratch disk is established (should have
external drive) the system buffer is lousy. graphic detail in PS or IL will
crunch the processor and lots of "ticks will pass" before the refresh.
the extra threads will handle the refresh and buffer more. if any
production editing is going to happen i7 hands-down. the i5 will struggle
on rendering (defecting some edits). the SSD writes will be nasty without
a mechanical scratch disk.. just a heads-up on SSD perf without proper
setup. SSD life will diminish...

airdeano

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

Thanks for providing some knowledge airdeano, I know absolutely nothing about CS6 or how it works. From my quick googling it seems like the scratch disk isn't 100% necessary if you have enough RAM. So would 16GB of RAM help? I also don't think an external drive is possible, he has to bring the computer around with him and he's a simple kind of guy (hence the Macbook). And would the i7 only save him on time, or are there other benefits?

 

[airdeano]

...the scratch disk isn't 100% necessary if you have enough RAM. So would 16GB of RAM help?

mmmmm its not necessary, but a firewire/esata or usb external will handle the graphics and illustrator
files awhole hell of alot easier with a scratchdisk with i5 or i7. 16GB helps but isn't the dollar vs perf
gain you/he'd be looking for.
16GB helpful, yes, but $$ better spent elsewhere.

And would the i7 only save him on time, or are there other benefits?

time and errors in post and saving files to disk.

airdeano

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

At this point it sounds like this program needs a serious machine to run well... Damn you Apple and your high prices. OK one more question that I already sort of know the answer to but thought I'd get an opinion. The 13" Macbook he wanted to get has no discrete graphics, just the HD 4000 on the CPU. Is that enough? What does the GPU do with a program like CS6?

 

[airdeano]

cough* cough* hack* luggie....

the HD4000 is good can game alright, web browse and email....
support adobe, id have to pass, not viscious enough make it a performer.

airdeano

 

[Josh Weston]

Does he use his optical drive at all?

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

OK well the only other option is a 650M. How about that?

@Josh I don't think so... Why?

 

[Josh Weston]

You could always swap out the optical drive with an SSD of your choice
Works out cheaper that way, too.

 

[seumasbeathan]

I believe the ram in the new macbooks is soldered onto the motherboard and can't be upgraded

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

That's only the ones with a retina display, which are way out of the budget

 

[airdeano]

OK well the only other option is a 650M. How about that?

now we are cooking with some gas... that'll be the juice for the ease of usage and
re-rendering, especially on an external monitor. graphic manipulation on 13" LCD
will be a nut-buster to pick idea points, color pixels, and drag points.

just went to apple and viewed the specs.. itll have thunderbolt (high end data transfer)
and is available for teathering external devices at a cost.. congrats on having a mac!
plus the USB 3.0 and fire wire... so the lower cost solutions for attachment are there too..

airdeano

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

OK so from what you're saying is the only way to go here is to get the $1,700 Macbook with an i7, 8GB of RAM, a 500GB 5400RPM drive, and a 650M w/ 512MB of memory? He doesn't wanna pay that much but if he has to to get a good experience I guess he will... Any other recommendations to help get the most out of this system? You've been very helpful so far, thank you!

 

[airdeano]

on the website it is only a 1-year parts/labor warrenty.. (blah!). gawd, that is way too much
to draw pictures with... but its gotta be portable and perform, gotta 'cha!
ASUS doesnt have a lil screamer to go or the education softie is apple only?

tiger has this... $900 if its not apple only softies..

airdeano

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

PC isn't an option for this guy unfortunately, would save him some money too. Now here's a question: If he's using this computer for "architecture", which programs of CS6 is he actually going to use? Isn't it a whole bunch of programs together? I really don't get this...

 

[airdeano]

illustrator and photoshop mainly..

i dont get it either.. schooling is expensive enough without peripheral spending outta sight wads
of cash for tiny walk-abouts that seem to game and browse more than dedicated
functioning.

airdeano

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

OK we'll be heading to the Apple store tomorrow I think... Thanks a lot for the help airdeano, although I kind of wish I didn't ask as we would've just bought the i5 that way!