Luxon

I believe that, very interesting. I was thinking the same but more because of the cost of the processors being the same. They both are able to use the same TDP, and if enabled even 10 watts less. Ahh, I see this would be because of temp throttles as other users have suggested. I'm assuming this is because of thermal throttling which is a hardware flaw rather than a software flaw. Like when I boot up windows, it still wouldn't matter anyway because the flaw is rooted in hardware, right? I'm assuming thats due to hardware. I would never make the argument that MacBooks are the best for the buck or are the most powerful, they sure try to be, but I don't think they are (for business reasons). The benchmarks from cpu.benchmark really put into reference just of how bad of workstations they are. However, my experience thus far has been extremely smooth and fast which combined with Mac OS is what I was aiming for most of my productivity needs. Hopefully, I responded to all you guys correctly. I'm going to go ahead and leave out the CPU upgrade due what you guys said about throttling and not noticing a worthy difference!! Thank you all!

If there is anyone who can answer this question knowledgeably, it would be you guys. I just bought a MacBook Pro 2017 base model with Kaby lake intel 7th gen, and I am going to upgrade to more graphics memory (+$90) and double my soldiered on storage (256 to 512gb +$180). This leads to an upgrade cost of $270 on a $2,250 machine which to me is worth it. The question comes in, that I can upgrade just the memory and GPU for $270 or just go for the top spec for an additional $90 (~$350). So the processor upgrade itself, due to being the only difference after updating memory and GPU is $90. I will post the processor name value and specs below. Basically the only difference in CPU is that it has a 100Mb clock difference and a higher L3 cache memory. The model I have now is a L3 cache size of 6mb, paying the extra amount would give me a 8mb L3 cache size. I don't know how important L3 cache is, I do know that L3 is designated for inter core functions. cpu benchmark rates that the higher spec cpu has an effectively faster processing rate of 6%. and other cinebench tests gave it a higher multicore score something like 13,000 to 15,000. Which I imagine would help if I am running a bunch of apps, some in the background. Needs: I am a computer engineering undergrad student, and use professional software like Multism to test and design circuits (of course I will dual boot a windows OS on my Mac which is the main reason for my memory upgrade). I also do a lot, and I mean a lot of coding. My main reason for wanting the $90 processor is that I will have many many tabs, folders and codes open across different programs running, sometimes simultaneously throughout the day. Which I would imagine a higher multicore speed would aide. Taking into consideration how much I have already spent on this machine (as an investment/future proofing/performance needs), would it be wise to just go balls to the wall and spend another $90 on the higher cpu with more L3 cache and just go to a top common model MacBook Pro? Is 2mb more cache and a slightly higher clock worth it? Secondly when my cpu is under heavy stress how much will I notice having the slightly more clock and L3 cache? Is there any user perceived difference (especially under max load). Ultimately this determines whether the upgrade is worth $90 to me. Data to peruse: The base model CPU: I7-7700HQ specs: Processor Number i7-7700HQ Status Launched Launch Date Q1'17 Lithography 14 nm Recommended Customer Price $378.00 Performance # of Cores 4 # of Threads 8 Processor Base Frequency 2.80 GHz Max Turbo Frequency 3.80 GHz Cache 6 MB Bus Speed 8 GT/s DMI TDP 45 W Configurable TDP-down 35 W And finally the upgraded CPU that would cost me $90: I7 - 7820HQ. specs i7-7820HQ Status Launched Launch Date Q1'17 Lithography 14 nm Recommended Customer Price $378.00 Performance # of Cores 4 # of Threads 8 Processor Base Frequency 2.90 GHz Max Turbo Frequency 3.90 GHz Cache 8 MB TDP 45 W Configurable TDP-down 35 W Really curious as to why the Intel stated price is exactly the same, the info above bring from Intel's ARK spec pages. Leads me to believe the extra $90 could be a apple easy cash grab. Here is the line to the cpu benchmark comparison Url for the two processors. http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7820HQ-vs-Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ/m185229vsm211019 Thank you for letting me pick your guys' brains. I appreciate the time you took to read and respond!! Bests, Luxon