
Understanding these letters and the numbering system above will help you know what a processor offers just by looking at the model number without needing to read the actual specifications.


#I5 OR I7 PROCESSOR FOR MACBOOK PRO HOW TO#
Related: What Is a CPU Cache? How to Tell Which Intel CPU Generation Is Which? They may also come with a larger CPU memory cache than their counterparts, enabling faster overall performance. Most Core i9 CPUs are octa-core and come with a very high clock speed, enabling them to perform to a very high standard for prolonged periods.
#I5 OR I7 PROCESSOR FOR MACBOOK PRO SERIES#
The Intel Core i9 series is Intel's extreme performance line. The latest CPU generations have another tier above Core i7, the Intel Core i9. Each family, in turn, has its own line of Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 series of processors.

Intel releases "families" of chipsets, called generations. At the time of writing, Intel has launched its 11th-generation series, named Rocket Lake. Quad-cores are usually better than dual-cores and hexa-cores better than quad-cores, and so on, but it isn't always accurate depending on the CPU generation-more on these differences in a moment. Again, the Intel Core i7 CPUs outperform their Core i5 counterparts and are much faster than the entry-level Core i3 CPUs. The latest Intel Core i7 CPU generations include quad-core, hexa-core, and octa-core (eight) configurations.

Older generations of Intel Core i5 processors had a mixture of dual- and quad-core processors, but the later generations typically feature a quad- or even hexa-core (six) configuration, along with faster overclock speeds than the Core i3. It is a similar story for older Intel Core i5 CPUs. Older Intel Core i3 series had only dual-core processors, but more recent generations have a mixture of dual- and quad-core CPUs. Things go a little deeper.įirst, Core i7 does not mean a seven-core processor! These are just names to indicate relative performance. The trouble is knowing what to expect within each tier. An Intel Core i7 is better than a Core i5, which in turn is better than a Core i3.
