Dell xps15 i5 vs i7

HI guys,

Im going to buy the dell xps15 and the last step before ordering is choosing between i5 and i7. To be exact

2e generatie Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Processor 2,3 GHz met Turbo Boost 2.0, tot 2,9 GHz

and

2e generatie Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor 2, GHz met Turbo Boost 2.0, tot 2,9 GHz

Im using the laptop for school so it would be nice to pick the one which will be better for a longer battery life. But i also want to be able to play games well. It would be nice if i could play shooters like mw2/3, fifa and F2P mmorpg's.

I dont know alot about hardware so it would be nice to hear your advice on which processor to take which will fit my requirements.

ty

 

I would save your money and just go with the i5. You'll notice better battery life, and for most games there will hardly be a difference.

 

would id be a good deal if i chose that i7 and get a 500 GB2 SATA hard drive instead of a 320 GB2 SATA hard drive for just 50 more euro's?

 

Battery life will mostly depend on whether you have discrete graphics and/or Optimus (highly recommended) technology. With Optimus you basically double your battery life when the discrete gpu is not needed.

The choice between the i5 and the i7 you state is a no brainer: get the Quad core i7 for 50 euro's more. Not only do you have 2x the physical cores in the i7, you also get a much more modern HDD to (the higher the capacity, the newer/more current the tech used in the HDD, nominally).

Assuming 8GB RAM on both systems and Optimus, I would be surprised if the i7 was much more taxing on the battery than the (underpowered, imo) 15 you're considering - when both are used in basically 'idle' or 'low load' modes. (Web research (no flash), Word, reading PDF's, etc.).

Keep in mind that the stronger the processor, the faster it will 'hurry up to idle' - with twice as many cores, the i7 should be idling for a higher % of the time than the dual core i5 for a given workload (giving the i7 the same or better battery life).

Finally, everyone will tell you that the gpu is what is most important in gaming - I agree, but only once you have a certain level of RAM and cpu power on tap. The i5 is now approaching a year old already (tech-wise) - Quad core systems are the 'current' entry level (especially in 2012... just a few short months away).

So, if you are planning to keep this system for a few years, then spending a few (50) euros more now is the best thing you can do to keep your satisfaction with your system as high as possible over the next few years.

Good luck.