Okay, so they're here. And now the moment of truth arrives. IF you were going to replace your MBP, or other brand, with a new MBP (MacBook Pro) which one should you buy. Let's look at some facts.
That's a pretty sweet machine for $1,800. I'm not sure how the hotter (2.8) core duo would stack up against the i7, but I'd bet it would give the i5 a run for it's money. And here are the current MBP i-Cores.
So for the same money I can get a 2.4 ghz i5 or add $12o to get the 2.53. And then the big leap to the i7. But how can we as consumer make a comparison on the NEW machines. Of course, we WANT the fastest and baddest MacBook on the planet. But where do vanity and economics collide? Here's the "overall" benchmark scores from MacNN.
So we can do the raw comparisons of the new machines like this.
2.8 core 2 duo = 3904
2.4 i5 quad = 4806
That's 19% better "overall" for the same price. So my initial assumption was wrong.
And the 2.53 i5 quad scores 4994, or 22% better for $220. That also seems pretty good, but you have to ask, does the 3% overall improvement justify the $220.
Finally we have to look the hot i7 chip. At 2.67 ghz the overall score of 5422 is a 28% improvement. But is $420 too much to spend for the "top of the line" designation?
And today I am actually replacing a 2.4 core 2 duo MacBook Pro. At this point I'm thinking the entry-level i5 at 2.4 is as fast as I need to go. Extracting my 2.4 ghz performance by averaging the 2.53 and 2.24 scores, we get 3360. So the beginner's i5 is %30 faster. THAT seems like a DEAL! Thanks for working through that with me.
If you have further insights, I'd appreciate your comments or direct emails.
@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/i-cores
MacNN: i-Core Benchmarks
And there you have it, one-day shipping for $4, no sales tax, and AMAZON has my business and I'll have my new i5 tomorrow.
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