I5-2520M (vs I5-2540M vs I7-2620M) vs I7-2720QM

Hi all,

I'm currently looking for a new laptop but I'm having a hard time choosing a CPU that will fit my needs and hope you guys will be able to give me some hints.

This laptop will be my main computer and will be used 8+ hours per day for software development (I'm a Java software developer so I'll be running a few servers, an IDE, compiling, etc) and common things such as e-mail, surfing, word processing & excel, music, watching movies (possibly blu-ray). I might also run some virtual machines (if this matters). However, I won't do much (any?) photo or video editing, 3D modeling, etc.

I obviously plan to keep this laptop as long as possible, I'm buying it for several years.

So, the question is: what CPU would be the "best" for me? Battery life is not a that big concern, the laptop will be most of time plugged at my desk, but the longer the better. However, heat (and longevity of electronic components, and noise) and power consumption are.

I'm currently looking at the i5-2520M (35W) and the i7-2720QM (45W) (which cost ~250€ more).

Does the quad-core with bigger cache have some serious benefits given my needs or would it just generate more heat and hurt battery life, in other words, be wasted? Wouldn't a dual-core with higher clock speed just be faster for my daily tasks? Should I consider an intermediate CPUs like a i5-2540M or a i7-2620M (benefits over the i5-2520M are not that obvious to me in such case)? Forgetting the prices, are quad-core really the future for everybody?

I've already read some posts here on this forum and other places but things are going too fast and I still feel a bit lost in this jungle. Any recommendations fellas for a non hardware specialist?

Just in case, here are the CPU prices for the machine I'm looking at to give you an order of magnitude:

- Intel Core i5-2520M (2.50GHz, 3 Mo cache, Dual Core) : base
- Intel Core i5-2540M (2.60GHz, 3 Mo cache, Dual Core) : base + 102,00 €
- Intel Core i7-2620M (2.70GHz, 3 Mo cache, Dual Core) : base + 208,00 €
- Intel Core i7-2720QM (2.20GHz, 6 Mo cache, Quad core) : base + 252,00 €

Thank you (a lot) in advance.

 

All I had to read was 'buying it for several years' - get the quad core.

Too bad you don't give the base, 'base' amount though.

 

Is the i7 2630QM an option? If it is, I'd suggest you go for that

Mr. Mysterious

 

So basically, what you're saying is that getting more power now will delay the point in time at which I'll have to change it because of new needs/software? That's it?

Regarding the 'base' amount, I'm "building" a Dell laptop so I don't have it, Dell does.

Thank you for your answer.

 

Yeahhhh, more choice Not sure I saw it on Dell's website though, at least not for the Latitude and/or Precision series. But I'll double check.

Thank you for your answer.

 

Also, just an FYI: Intel is planning on making quad-cores mainstream with the release of their Ivy Bridge CPUs in 2012.

So it would make sense to buy a quad-core now just to keep up with the mainstream That's what I did.

Mr. Mysterious

 

You're welcome. But you still didn't give the 'amount' part though...

 

Stick with the 2520m or get the i7-2630qm if the upgrade isn't too costly (~100€ . If it's not available and you're comfortable with opening your laptop and manually switching the CPU (or know someone who knows his way around a laptop) get an i7-2720qm QS on ebay for less than the upgrade and sell your i5-2520m for a decent amount of cash.

 

Thats what I did was an i3-2310m and upgraded off ebay. Surprised to see a chip enter the US from China and at my doorstep the next day. I can't tell you about i5 but even single core is a huge difference from the i3. Something like 19.xx superpi versus 11.xx. Wattage is the same unless I'm specifically targeting all cores then its an extra 10w (45 total for the system).

 

The "smallest" config (with an i5-2520M) I'm looking at costs 1393€. I can get the same machine with an i7-2720QM at 1576€ (so actually, it would cost 183€ more to get the quad-core with the current savings offers).

 

Thanks for the base 'cost' part.

I would be looking only at the i7 2720QM for a small 13% cost difference for the (up to ~70% or more...) performance increase and the amount of time you're considering on keeping this system.

Always buy as much cpu power as you can afford - you'll never regret it.

 

Wow! I wasn't expecting such a difference in terms of performance increase for the kind of tasks I'm going to achieve (no photoshop, video processing, 3D, etc). But if I get this kind of performance boost (or even 50%), this is a pretty convincing argument.

Thanks again.

 

With only the VM's you'll be running, you'll see at least 200% improvement, imo. Especially if you need to run them at the same time.

I hope you're also spec'ing this system for 16GB RAM (or more...) too? 8GB would be the minimum and I would be looking to replace that in about 3 seconds of owning the system myself.

Don't fool yourself and think you'll upgrade it 'later' - also, don't do it at (much) greater expense at the manufacturer either (remember, you can buy 4x 4GB RAM notebook modules for around $120 if you shop around). Do it as soon (and as inexpensively) as you can - again, you won't regret being able to run all your VM's, and other projects at the same time.

Which also reminds me... you do have an external monitor or two to use, right? (2560x1440 is just about right...)

Good luck.

 

Man, I feel so stupid, I just didn't think about that. Thank you for reminding me to not act like a lambda customer I was planning to get 8GB but for the price Dell would bill me, I can indeed get twice as much RAM (and probably better quality). Obviously, that's what I'll do (and thus buy as little as possible RAM when building my laptop).

Just in case, do you know if I can sell the RAM I'll get from Dell easily on say ebay?

Well, the plan is to replace my old external monitor too (don't laugh, I'm still using an old 19" CRT monitor from iiyama). Which one do you own?

 

Sorry, but I just have to jump in here and say I'm currently on the exact same display 6 years and still going strong!