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    Core i5 vs Core i7

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Noctilum, Jan 15, 2010.

  1. Noctilum

    Noctilum Notebook Evangelist

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    I am about to purchase a notebook. It is mainly for business use but I will also be using it for light gaming sessions (World of Warcraft which I know is CPU hungry). Would I see a significant difference between Core i5 and Core i7 for a $120 price difference?

    Intel® Core™ i5-520M Processor ( 32nm, 3MB L3 Cache, 2.40GHz)
    Intel® Core™ i7-620M Processor ( 32nm, 4MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)

    Thanks!

    EDIT: After further reading, I have found this particular Core i7 is only a dual-core so I may just go with the Core i5 unless anyone can see a reason why.
     
    Noctilum, Jan 15, 2010
    #1
  2. Angelic

    Angelic Kickin' back :3

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    Bottom line, i7 is overkill for your needs.
     
    Angelic, Jan 15, 2010
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  3. catacylsm

    catacylsm Notebook Prophet

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    Agreed, i dont think the difference between the two will be massively great either :D an extra meg in cache and .22 will increase performance a bit, but not perform miracles. :).
     
    catacylsm, Jan 15, 2010
    #3
  4. Serg

    Serg Nowhere - Everywhere

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    Would be ok, but 120 difference is not worth it IMHO.
     
    Serg, Jan 15, 2010
    #4
  5. garetjax

    garetjax NBR Freelance Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    It would be if the original poster has intentions of overclocking that i7 proc. Then again, I don't see the benefit of overclocking anything in a laptop while trying to maintain a balance between performance and battery life.
     
    garetjax, Jan 15, 2010
    #5
  6. Serg

    Serg Nowhere - Everywhere

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    AFAIK you cant overclock the Nehalems...
     
    Serg, Jan 15, 2010
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  7. SoundOf1HandClapping

    SoundOf1HandClapping Was once a Forge

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    Unless you have whatever miracle Asus cooked up and inserted into their Power4Gear program.
     
    SoundOf1HandClapping, Jan 16, 2010
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  8. garetjax

    garetjax NBR Freelance Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    garetjax, Jan 16, 2010
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  9. Serg

    Serg Nowhere - Everywhere

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    Interesting, I had no idea people was able to overclock Nehalem without disabling TB and HT...
     
    Serg, Jan 16, 2010
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  10. sean473

    sean473 Notebook Prophet

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    I would stick with core i5... if it was 120 more for quad core i7 , i would have said go ahead.... and actually , in some laptops , i have seen a core i7 quad for 120 more on Alienware M17x... over core i5.
     
    sean473, Jan 16, 2010
    #10