13' MacBook Pro i5 dual core(non retina) vs 15' MacBook Pro i7 quad core(non retina)

I'm looking to buy a laptop, I'm going to use it for some photoshop, and daily use of excel,iTunes,web browsing, watch videos. The following laptops are which I'm looking at: 13' MacBook Pro i5 dual core(non retina) and 15' MacBook Pro i7 quad core(non retina). Please let me know what you suggest. I'm looking for a laptop to last me at least 5 years.

I'm trying to stick w/o having to buy the super drive and need a lot of memory to store so that's why the retina laptops didn't come to mind. I was looking at the refurbished section and apple is selling a (non retina) 15' MacBook Pro 4GB memory, 500GB hard drive, i7 quad core processor.

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I have a late 2012 mac mini with an i5 2 core can I replace it with an i7 quad core?

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A few places online may still offer the i7 2.3GHz quad-core Late 2012 MINI (Oct 2012 to Oct 2014)
that allows the user-upgrade of RAM to 16GB, and this one I've seen is a Server model and has
two 1-TB Hard Disk Drives. The B&H store in NY online has this listed, if in stock now, price &
shipping in continental US is good until tomorrow.
Your i5 dual-core is still desirable to many, & you may be able to resell it if not needed.
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This fall I will be a freshman at my college and I have decided that I am going to invest in a macbook pro. Right now I could buy 2012 13in with 8gb of ram for $1399 or I could purchase the refurb for $1359. My question is which one will benefit me more in the long run? Is 15in to bulky and heavy to take to college? If i chose the refurb would I be able to count on it for years to come? Will it last longer than the 2012 13in. If I got the 15in I would probably upgrade to 8gb of ram. I would be missing out on USB 3.0 if I chose the refurb though. Is this a deal breaker? I'm planning on getting into Economics and my college pretty much endorses Macs so that won't be a problem. Otherwise, I will probably just be doing normal things on my computer like watching videos, surfing the web, typing papers, downloading music and the occasional playing of flash games on the internet. I just want to make sure that I can get a computer that will last me at least 4 years and hopefully more. Any suggestions and thoughts would be very helpful!

I would go a different route.....
I would buy the the 15' Quad Core.
Regardless of which one you decide to purchase, they would last for years if proper care is used.
The 2.9GHz is a fast machine. No doubt about that one. It is however, in the end, only a dual core.
Let say you decide to do some number crunching, the dual core will run out of steam before the quad core does.
Or you decide to use photoshop, the dual core will do the job but the quad will do it efficiently because of it's quad core design, the processing is done by all four cores thus finishing faster.
And when it comes with your occasional games, the 15' has it's own discreet graphics to process the videos while the 13' has to rely on the processor to drive the built in intel video. So the processor will be working harder on the 13' which will make your MB run a little on the hot side.

Mac mini (Late 2012): Dual- or Quad-Core?

I'm upgrading from a MacBook (2006) and - as a frequent iPad user - am thinking of just getting a Mac mini. I'm not sure though as wether to get the i5 dual-core or i7 quad-core version.
What I'll be using it for (none of these on a professional level, prosumer at most ;)):
Photo editing (iPhoto, thinking of switching to Aperture)
Web development (Coda, Espresso, local test server)
Designing (Sketch 2)
Full-HD video editing
Web, office, social media, ...
Can I expect a signifcant performance boost at these tasks from the quad-core model or will the differences be barely noticable (also considering most of these applications will be running simultaneously)?
I'll be maxing out RAM from a third party vendor in both cases, HDD capacity is not important and I'm not going to upgrade to SSD or Fusion Drive.
What do you think? Any thoughts appreciated!

Thanks for your insights! My inital goal was being cost-efficient; Fusion Drive is only an option on the quad-core model thus making it 1080 Euros were I live. That's almost an entire new Mac mini which I could buy in 2-3 years. I don't mind CPU intensive tasks taking longer (e.g. rendering final movie) as long as the actual "creative process" runs smoothly (e.g. cutting the movie).
As you both said finding out how/if apps take advantage of multiple cores is not that easy. I guess I'll have a closer look at all the benchmark tests and reviews that will be showing up in the coming weeks.
I think Fusion Drive on a dual-core might boost performance more than just going quad-core, unfortunately this is not an option for the lower end model. Also I want to wait a little to see if Fusion Drive is proprietary Apple hardware or just implemented software-wise (which would mean I could fix a broken drive myself after warranty has expired).
By the way, any guesses on Black Friday sale options (as far as I could find out the Mac mini wasn't included last year)?

13'' dual-core with 16gb ram vs 15'' quad-core 8gb ram -- ram vs cores?

Hello. I am at a point between choosing a 13'' dual-core i5 with 16gb ram vs the 15'' quad-core with 8gb ram - both retinas.
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Thanks for your reply tjk, of course with 16gb on the 15'' for $200 more I'd have easier time, but in this case I am comparing a refurbished - the lowest 15'' 16gb I could find would cost $500 more, I just can't do it.
I should make clear that this particular comparison between 13''w/16 and 15''w/8, they are the same price (the 13 being new) - which is why I'm stuck.
To rephrase - for the same price - which will I regret less in 4 years?
As a side note, I can't believe I'm even thinking about paying this much money for something that is not upgradeable, but that's another discussion entirely.

How can I tell if I have an i7 dual core or quad core processor?

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Thanks,
Matt
Chicago, IL

You have a quad core.
Number of Cores: 4
Regards,
Captfred

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Needs to be Best Buy because of gift cards
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Not a gamer and don't use Final Cut or other video editing, but I tend to leave several applications open and usually have between 1-3 GB free RAM of the 16GB total at any time according to my Memory Cleaner readings
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Also to note, would like this to last 4 years, which was reason that I bought the higher spec'd model even though I don't run games or video editing

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This may give you some ideas.
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Hi. I have this laptop. Is it possible to replace the i5 dual processor with an i7 quad core? If so, I might upgrade. I am just not sure if the Zbook dual core laptop shares the same motherboard as a quad core.
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Gary
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi Gary
Yes you're correct: you've to change out board for upgrading to Quad core processor. It's going to cost you much compared to price of the laptop.
Manual (second one) - go through page 26, 27: http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/manualsResults/?sp4ts.oid=538780...
Documentation: http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/default.aspx?cc=ca&lc=en&oid=7081970
Regards
Visruth
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Editing Canon 7d 1080p/24 footage with Premiere Pro CS5 + mobile quad core CPUs

I'm researching getting a new laptop for editing and trying to determine if even the best laptop out there will give me the editing experience I need.
Does anyone have any experience editing 7d 1080p/24 video files in CS5 with a laptop with a quad core CPU (either i7-Q* or the older quad cores) and/or GPU acceleration? I'm curious if the CPU can handle the load especially with multiple overlayed video tracks with varying opacity.
Please include the following in your reply:
# video tracks overlayed
playback resolution: half, quarter, full
CPU
GPU acceleration (if any)
Hard drive
Thanks!
My experience is this... On the sequence below, even at 1/4 resolution playback, the preview stutters to the point of being useless when there are three video tracks overlayed.
# video tracks overlayed: 3
Playback resolution: quarter
CPU: duo core 3.06gHz
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+1
Eric
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I am in the process of evaluating options to replace my 2007 MBP with a faster DAW. I am on a budget so while I am looking for performance improvements over what I have, I don't need overkill either. I am considering the 2011 Mac Mini (2.5 GHz, dual core) and the 2011 iMac (2.5 GHz quad - core). Whichever configuration I choose, I will bump up RAM to 8 GB.
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I am in the process of evaluating options to replace my 2007 MBP with a faster DAW. I am on a budget so while I am looking for performance improvements over what I have, I don't need overkill either. I am considering the 2011 Mac Mini (2.5 GHz, dual core) and the 2011 iMac (2.5 GHz quad - core). Whichever configuration I choose, I will bump up RAM to 8 GB.
I use LE 9.0 and a Presonus Firestudio Project and would like to know whether what kind of performance improvements I will see between the two options I am considering. I use a lot of plugins, and an external Firewire 800 drive for recording. Obviously with the Mini, I will have to buy an optical drive as well. I already have two monitors, keyboard and mouse.
The only thing that worries me about the Mac Mini is the slower 5400 rpm hard drive. While I plan on using an external drive for recording, I am concerned because of the number of plugins and sample files that need to load during recording / playback.

2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 vs 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7

I can't decide which Mac Mini should buy, Mini with 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 or the server version 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, of course I'll upgrade it with 8 GB memory and SSD drive.
So what are you guys thinking of 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 or 2.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7?
cheers

my dilemma is if i go 2.7ghz i5 with 8gb of ram and the 750gb (7200rpd), after i buy the magic mouse and the keyboard, i'm already into $1367.00....
where as if i got a imac for $1399.00 i'm looking at a 2.5ghz i5 quad core with 8gb ram and a 500gb hard drive, with the amd graphic chip. plus i'm also getting a 21.5" led screen. where as with the mini i would have to hook it up to my existing monitor or even share it with my existing computer.
i love the look of the mini, but it is really hard for me to justify spending that much money having to buy all the "extra's", just have a working computer. when i can just pony up $32.00 more and get a whole sytem...
please help me to justify buying a mac mini.

Dual core to quad core

Can it be done? Is there any reason this isn't possible I don't care how or what else needs to be done with in reason of course. I mean I want to do it my self and just drop them in and if I need buy the right ram. But I can't find any info on this subjet anyware.

That 9800 is AGP and only of use in PPC.
Tutorial: http://www.o0o.it/pro/
Intel 53xx keeps improving on its line of chips.
Quad-core and beyond
Your system was configured with PSU for a given load. Apple uses a different configuration for 3GHz 8-core w/ X1900. There are suppose to be at least 3 different system designs.
And there are some excellent chips on the horizon with 45nm Xeon quads due in '08 (except for a 135W 3GHz slated for November and $999 OEM price apiece). Making the "upgrade vs new" Anandtech
They also did the first review of 8-core "upgrade"
Harpertown
I'd wait until 1Q '08.

Is Quad-Core processors really worth it ?

I'm debating between the 13 inch MacBook Pro that has the dual core while the 15 inch MacBook Pro has a quad core, but I'm using this purely for school and video chat.
Do I really need a quad core for these things at the moment ?

Debater112651 wrote:
I'm debating between the 13 inch MacBook Pro that has the dual core while the 15 inch MacBook Pro has a quad core, but I'm using this purely for school and video chat.
Do I really need a quad core for these things at the moment ?
Quad cores are the new benchline, even the new iPad has a quad core processor.
If you can take care of your machine and make it last for 4 years, want to play 3D games, then the 15"
If your not going ot play 3D games and will replace the machine in 2 years, light uses, then the 13"
If your rough on computers then buy a $400 Windows 7 PC instead

Can iMovie 11 use quad core?

Does anyone know, if iMovie 11 can make use of all of the 4 cores on the new Macbook Pro I7 processor? I am thinking of buying either the quad core, or the dual core Macbook Pro for iMovie related work.
I asked this at the Apple store, but they were not sure.
Thank you.

I am using a MacPro (3/2014) with 6 cores and 16GB of RAM.
Encoding a 58 minute video in SD is estimated to take 1 hr 10 minutes.
While the CPU monitor shows the "ProTranscoderToolsb" running at 460% and I'Movie at 58%, it is not clear to me whether this means that the I'Movie is using multiple cores (i.e. 5 of my 6 cores) and is multi-threaded.
Does anyone have an answer for this.
I was surprised that this render would take this long as I upgraded my old MacPro (2008 1st generation but with 4 cores) precisely for the additional rendering power.
My impression is like some others, that if I'Movie is using multi-threading, it is not using it very efficiently. Apple needs to address this on all of its products. It is ironic that Adobe (Photoshop 6 and CC which rip) appear to use the new MacPro's power more effectively than Apple software products.

13' MacBook Pro i5 dual core(non retina) vs 15' MacBook Pro i7 quad core(non retina)

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