-
This should explain the processor differences
http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/best-intel-processor-core-i3-i5-i7
JonD-
This should explain the processor differences
http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/best-intel-processor-core-i3-i5-i7
@DammitThe mobile processors' branding doesn't reflect the chips' speed well though.
Looks like, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_(Retina)
that the 3 chips areCore m3: m3-7Y32
Core i5: i5-7Y54
Core i7: i7-7Y75Side by side
https://ark.intel.com/compare/97538,95452,95441There's almost no difference apart from the clock speeds. The i7 has a few things enabled the other two don't. Most you won't care about
Intel® vPro Technology
Intel® Stable Image Platform Program (Intel® SIPP)
Intel® Trusted Execution Technology
^ ^^ ^^^ for enterprise management/security I thinkIntel® TSX-NI
^ looks like something that helps multi-threaded applications. But it's only a 2 core machine so probably not massively helpful (maybe, I don't know really)They all have the same number of cores, the differences are just clock speed (1.2, 1.3, 1.4 GHz) and graphics chip speed (900, 950, 1050 MHz).
So looks like the core i5 version will be approx 8% quicker than the core m3.
And the i7 will be ~9% quicker than the i5, and 17% faster than the m3.Probably a bit less noticeable for anything where the processor isn't maxed out though.
So they're all fine. Pay more, get faster but nothing huge.
duncs
Ok, so - the Macbook has three processor options and two HDD sizes, I'm not interested in the 512 GB HDD so it's down to processor.
Which gives us:
1.2 Ghz m3 £1,429
1.3 Ghz i5 £1,519
1.4 Ghz i7 £1,654
Is this the standard case of want the fastest, pick the one in the middle, or is i5 significantly inferior to the i7?
Or is the m3 fine and it's all down to RAM and HDD speed these days?