i7 R2 for i5 R3?

My M11x R2 with an i7 is pretty F*cked, so I'm talking with Dell about either getting it replaced or getting a refund and possibly getting an R3 for the same price, but it would most probably be the i5.

Which should i do?

The R3 would be the absolute base model with just an i5 instead of the i3.

 

Doesn't the base R3 still come with 4GB of Ram and a 250GB HDD? If that's the case, that seems like a great deal. Processor is comparable (if not slightly better) and GPU is considerably better. Plus you don't have to worry about hinges and whatnot.

 

If you really want an i7 R3 just tell them you will pay the difference between the i5 and i7.

 

They both have 2 core with Hyperthreading, and there's a 100MHz and 1MB of cache difference... Not really worth $200 tbh. I'll see if i can get the i7 over the i5, but I'm not going to pay the difference.

I'll be getting it for around $800 anyway, i don't really want to pay more than i did for my R2 otherwise i would have bought an R3 to begin with.

 

2nd gen i-series is about 20% faster clock per clock than the 1st gen i-series. GPU is superior.........USB3, SATA 3.0, Gigabit LAN, hinges as mentioned............just do it.

 

actually with turboboost the i7 has 300 mhz higher than the i5

 

I overclocked my first gen i7 and it reached 2.95 GHz, so it can be faster than i5, depends on what GPU you need lol.

 

Still i do think an R3 with i5 may be a better deal.
Especially if you manage to get an i5-2467m (1.6-2.3GHz) and not the i5-2537m (1.4-2.3GHz)

But even with the lowest i5 you still get the gt540m which way over 335m:
the gt540m has base clock 672/900/1344 MHz, 96 shaders, 16 rops
the gt335m has base clock 450/790/1080 MHz, 72 shaders, 8 rops

 

^^^
And DX11 support!

 

get the r3 i5..this is a no brainer

GPU= BETTER
CPU= similar or slight better
specs= better (no hinges issue, sata 3, usb 3, noise cancellation microphone, ect)

 

the gpu isnt that much better. maybe by 10%

 

make that 30-50% faster at stock clocks