MacBook Pro 13" i5 vs i7?

I have the 13" i5 bottom-of-the-range model. It performs perfectly well for everything that I use it for. It's more than adequate for everyday computing tasks.

... Was it a mistake not buying the i7?

No. The performance increase is very small and largely a subjective decision.

A 13" MBP (whether i5 or i7) is not a good choice for video editing and encoding: it will be hot, loud, slow, and don't even think about doing that on battery power. For the rest of your work, it should be fine.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities,

I have the 13" i7 model. I use it exactly for what you will be using it for. I settled on the 13" model for portability reasons also. I think that for what you will be using it for it'll be more than fine. My i7 powers through heavy and light tasks smoothly. There really is not much of a difference between the two. Take my advice stick with the i5 and save your money for extra RAM or a bigger HD upgrade you'll be glad you did. Here is a link comparing the MacBook Pro's: http://www.macworld.com/article/1163307/new_macbook_pros_late_2011_feature_updat es_that_boost_performance_and_value.html

If you scroll down to the Speedmark 7 scores you'll see the i5 and i7 compared there is a little gap but not a huge one. Hope this helps!🙂

Connor

EWW just curious what are the specs of your MBP? Is it an older one? And what do you use it for? Just out of curiosity that's all. You don't have to answer I was just wondering.

2.4GHz MBP 5,1 with 8GB RAM and 500GB 7200RPM hybrid drive.

Thanks!🙂 That's a 15 incher right?

Yep.

Thanks!

You shouldn't have any problems with the i5 doing web designing. My i7 does it with ease no lag. In fact I've never seen the spinning pinwheel ever. The only time I've seen it is when I resume from sleep. Photo and video editing go very well. I used Final Cut Pro to edit/create an HD highlight video for basketball it went very will. With little to know lag. The Intel HD 3000 graphics processer has a fast video encoder. It got a little warm but nothing too extreme. No downfalls that I have found yet. It's and all around great computer, I love mine!