should i get an xps 16 with i7 or i5 + 5730?

hi guys, im after a bit of advice. ive got the option at dell australia of getting either the i7 740, i5 540, or i7 620 processors and im not sure which would be best for me. im a photographer by trade and so im looking for a decent laptop that would allow me to work on when needed, so the RGB LED screen is really taken my fancy. however id love to have something to game on and so on and this would be my main laptop (naturally id just like to be able to edit on it as well!)

ill be getting the rgbled screen, and all options allow config of the 5730 card and all other options the same, however the i5 doesnt come with the option of the 500gb 7200 hard drive, which the i7 740 does. the i7 740 comes with the 130w power adaptor, and the i5 with the 90w, i dont know if this makesa difference.

basically they all work out to be roughly similar price (give or take, when spending that much 70 or 80 dollars doesnt make much difference) and i originally was set on the i7 740, however all the talk of throttling has made me think of reconsidering and going for an i5. given the closeness of the price, which would you recommend i go for? im likely to use multiple cores with photoshop (actually, does photoshop/lightroom etc make use of multiple cores??) though ill be using the laptop for a quite a bit of gaming and general laptop duties so id like to be covered for that as well.

so, which one?

i5 540
6gb
5730
rgb led screen
640gb 5400 hard drive
90w adaptor

i7 740
6gb
5730
rgb led screen
500gb 7200 hard drive
130w adaptor

im not too sure of the i7 620, but its there as an option as well.

obviously the i7 740 looks to be the best option for the price, but as mentioned im worried i may not be able to do much gaming on it if theres throttling. however i wouldnt want to lose the extra power and hard drive speed if theres a chance the 740m isnt as bad with throttling as say the 720. ive read quite a bit on the throttling issues, though havent seen too much mention of the newer 740m processsor.

any advice would be great, sorry for the long first post

 

2nd one is better. Where are you located? Seems really rare to configure both the 5730 and RGB together. None in the US region.

 

im in australia..

yeah i know the second option is better on paper, but does the throttling issue affect i5 processors as bad as i7s? thats the main issue im looking to avoid, and whether in real term useage id see a step down with an i5

 

I don't think throttling will be an issue if you apply some decent aftermarket thermal compound such as mx-3/mx-2/as5 and use active cooling pad underneath the laptop.

If you're planning to use the laptop on the go, then I'd suggest you go with lower power consuming i5's.

 

If money isn't an issue for you and you want a higher clock speed and better turbo then go for the 620.

It just depends if you'll use the quad cores or not. For most people a dual core i5/i7 620 is enough. Photography work does find a way to utilize all 4 cores though.

It's not like the i5's would be slow though! I'd recommend the i5 before the quad core because the i5 won't throttle because it's very efficient, unlike the quad core i7's.

Don't be put off the i7 620 though, it's the fastest CPU for this laptop whilst being an efficient dual core and if you have the dollars to pay for it then you'll love it!

 

Dang I wish Canada had the 740/840 available.

 

Get the second one with an i7 and 5730.

 

Performance increase is minimal at best don't sweet it