Intel® Core? 2 Duo T7500 vs Intel® Core? 2 Duo T5250

What exactly is the difference between the two? Is it really worth the extra 350$?

I was planning on getting a 1520 with

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5250
2 gigs of RAM
nVidia GeForce 8400M GS 128MO
160 gig Hard Drive at 7200 t/min

But now I am hesitating on the processor, I want it to last for a while so I don't want to buy something thats already out-dated.

I will use it mainly for school work and watching movies. I will be doing alot of multi tasking on it but not that much gaming.

 

It's not worth $350 unless you're configuring a power machine. An Inspiron should be around $1,000 - to spend 35% seems a bit crazy.

It will let you do things, like video editing and other processor intensive tasks, better. It will not make much of a difference day-to-day, IMHO.

 

nope not at all ..i'm selling T7300 for 155$

 

my t5250 is very fast even with my 1gb of ram
you wont be disappointed

 

The T7500 has a 4Mb L2 Cache, while the T5250 has the 2Mb Cache. Also, the T7500 is 2.2GHz while the other one is only at 2.0GHz. Though, I think it's a rip off to buy it at $350 more.

Plus, the difference won't be too important.

 

The T7500 chip itself doesn't even cost $350. So you're obviously getting more of an upgrade than just the T7500 processor, for the price of $350.

Still, if you're plunking down that much...you may as well get a Latitude D830. Lots of decent configurations on eBay ready to ship for probably what you'd pay for a 1520 with a month's wait.

For instance, I picked up the config in my tagline, shipped, for $1600 on eBay and had it within 3 days, with 3 years of CompleteCare (Completecare = damage insurance, English-speaking tech support, and next-day replacement of broken components).

 

i had luck from ebay for a T7500(working pull, not ES version) under $130 (with shipping under $150).

 

In which country are you buying? The T7500 is US $175 extra in the US over the T5250. I would say it is worth it at that price differential. You might also consider a T7250 for a $100 price differential instead.

According to the US Dell configurator, the T5250 would not work with a Blu-Ray drive, in case you want that.

Actually, the T5250 has a speed of 1.5GHz. It also has a slower FSB, and half the L2 Cache

If you don't mind an all-black laptop, be sure to check the Vostro 1500. It is the same as the 1520 but may be cheaper with a T7500. It probably would have different configuration options, and, depending on your country, a 30 day 100% refund warranty with no restocking fee

Fuzzy

 

You said you wanted it to last a while so you have to think about a few more factors other than just the chip's speed today...

T7500

1. Faster clock speed over the T5250
This translates to the chip being able to do the same raw task faster. Today the T5250 might do the task fast enough that you might not notice a difference over the T7500, but as time passes that relative gap can spread as software demands more from the machine...

2. Faster FSB over T5250
Same benefits as above...

3. Larger L2 Cache over T5250
This is another long term benefit... L2 Cache can help the computer be faster overall due to the CPU having more data closer to it (as RAM is slower than L2 cache), but the real hitter comes with 64bit. If you plan on using the machine for a long time, as you said, you might end up using Windows Vista x64 OR Windows 7 x64... 64Bit apps can have 64bit pointers which will end up taking up 2x as much room in your L2 cache. So that can turn 4MB of L2 into 2MB and would turn the T5250's 2MB into 1MB... Could be a bottleneck in the future...

IMHO the T7300/T7500 are the best long term buys at the moment for the 1520...

 

You're comparing to chips aimed at 2 completely different markets.

The T5250 is a budget/value model.. The 7300 and up are all performance.

If you plan to keep the thing around for a few years, I'd upgrade. Although some people 'claim' there isn't a difference, there is a huge one. My friends Lenvo has a T5250, it's slower then molasses compared to my T7300..

Cache and bus speeds make or break a processor. The GHz doesn't really make a massive difference, because you can simply over clock it the 200mhz without any concern.

frazell gave good enough explanation that no one needs to repeat.

 

No no no. I think you show get the T5xxx, save the money for later - who know if there'll be some new stuff next year..?

 

Save money for what? He wants to make THIS notebook last for awhile.

 

The reason for your friend’s notebook to be slow has very little to do with the processor. Instead, the amount of RAM, OS and above all what background apps he is running affects the speed. You cant just compare two notebooks for CPU speed without considering all the factors. If not properly maintained, even a Quad core can be made to run slower than a Celeron.

Unless you are running CPU intensive applications like video encoding, scientific simulations, 3D rendering etc.. you won’t notice a huge difference.

True, there is a difference between the two; but certainly not worth $350.

 

As I stated above, when you take time into consideration that $350 can be a worthwhile investment...

If the notebook was being replaced next year then no it probably wouldn't be all that important of a replacement, but the poster stated he/she wanted the machine to last a LONG time. That means he/she wants the machine to last them as long as possible and for the reasons stated in my previous post they have to look beyond that super cheap processor.

 

You can get the t7500 for about $1000.

I paid ~$950 for 14.1 wxga+ with camera with t7500, 2gb, 8400m gs, 160gb 5400rpm, 9-cell, and draft-n (pretty much every feature upgrade available). I know this person wants the 1500 series, so it should be cheaper.

I could have dropped the price but the performance hit would suck. The t7500 crawls for me with Ultimate (even after I upgraded to 3.5gb). I could not imagine anything slower. It would be unusable. $350 is a ripoff. Get that reduced and then think of it over the long term (price/years of warranted ownership).

(I have two year plus one warranty on the machine so it costs me ~300$US/year. Not a bad deal. That is ~25$US per month. If I can get $100 for it in 3 years I will be happy.)

 

Man.. I'm no bone head, I spend 40% of my computing time optimizing and maintaining my systems so they run at optimal speeds. Everyone does in the office it's mandatory due to we use extremely intensive applications to do our jobs. And organization is a must.

So obviously I took all the factors into consideration. His laptop is identical to to mine, besides for brand and CPU, and possibly video card, not sure I believe he has a Qudro. Still what we use is CPU based only two or three applications use the GPU to help, and in that case his should kill my GeForce. But still is crummy system lacks far behind.

If you plan to run Windows Vista or even Windows 7 when it arrives.. The entire GUI is 3d rendered so toss the 'you won't need the power to do day to day things' theory. Because under normal circumstances, that may be true, but not in Vista..not down the road.