Question: i5 vs i7?

i'm looking at getting a studio 15.. just wondering if anyone can provide any insight on the difference between i5 and i7? It looks like the i7 really eats up your battery... is there a big difference in performance with the i7 that would justify this?

these are the processors that come on the canadian models, taken off dell.ca

NEW 2010 Intel® Core™ i5-450M 2.4GHz (Turbo boost up to 2.66GHz, 4 Threads, 3M Cache)
NEW 2010 Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)

the things i will use my laptop for
- Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, After Affects, Animate Pro, Storyboard Pro
- Maya, mudbox, corel painter
- Internet browsing + streaming
- Downloading
- Watching movies
- iTunes
- Microsoft word for those useless electives
- MAYBE COD4:MW2, but i doubt it

edit: found this through google, except i have no idea what any of it means, might be of use to someone ^^
http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/28...PGA988)_vs_Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_I7-720QM.html

also, it doesn't necessarily have to be a dell that i'm buying, if anyone has any suggestions, take a look at my "what notebook should i buy" thread

 

What are the specifications of your current computer? Also, could you give more details about what exactly do you do (render/encode, how long does it take, etc)?

The i5 is a dual-core processor while the i7-QM series is a quad-core. There will be a noticeable difference in battery life between the processors. The reason is, the i5 has integrated Intel HD graphics built into the chip the i7 does not. If the Studio 15 is capable of switching graphics to the integrated chip from whatever dedicated graphics card it has, then that will definitely give you better battery life. The i7 is not capable of doing that, therefore the dedicated card will be running the whole time; combined with the higher power usage of the quad-core chip, battery life will be affected adversely.

Now, the i7-QM quad-core will be a good deal faster than the i5 in rendering/encoding, which is what it looks like you are doing. The 720QM is not going to be twice as fast as the 450M but basically, imagine if the 450M renders something in one minute, it will probably take the 720QM 35 seconds (something like that).

 

thx for the response charles

i won't be rendering.. i have the school computers to use for that which has a render farm if i need..

i'm basically going to be animating, modelling, painting, and compositing.
i don't think the studio 15 is able to switch from dedicated to integrated but i'm not absolutely sure, i'll have to ask a rep tomorrow.
this is the video card: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470, 1GB

assuming that it can't switch though, does that mean that the i5 will eat up just as much battery life as the i7? and the i7 will only benefit me with rendering?

 

The i7 may also help with the modeling and such as well. But I'd be a little wary of the GPU. It's not a great GPU and doesn't have a lot of built-in memory, both of which are pretty important to do serious modeling. I'd be looking at something with a minimum of a 5650 and 512MB of RAM at the very, very least. If you're doing higher-res stuff, 1GB of video RAM wouldn't be unwarranted.

 

also be aware that adobe cs5 products only support nvidia products
id also recommend a core i7 quad for these programs.
depending on how complex your work will be you may opt for the more powerful cpu like the 820qm or the 920xm if possible.
i work with 720p video; and 3 layers of video with minimal effects and transitions on a 3min sequence will NOT allow you to preview in realtime with a 720qm using premiere pro cs5.

 

well anything that this laptop lacks, i can use the school computers to do.. i'm on a tight budget and can't really pay more then $1200 after taxes.. that doesn't leave me with too many options.. at the very least, i can paint and animate i guess..

should i try to find a laptop with an nvidia gpu then?

 

How much does the upgrade cost? IMO since you're on a budget and have access to more powerful machines, stick with the i5.

 

I'll point you toward the Dell Outlet - you can get a great deal on refurb/returned notebooks there:
Dell Outlet - Refurbished Computers - Refurbished Laptops - Refurbished PCs | Dell
All of them come with a standard warranty. You should definitely be able to get a notebook that fits your needs for <$1,200.

Also check out our Dell Coupons page:
http://www.notebookreview.com/dellCoupon.asp

As others have noted, this kind of configuration would be ideal:
-i7 quad-core (720QM/740QM)
-4GB RAM (6GB would not hurt)
-7200RPM hard drive (320GB/500GB)
-Dedicated video card

A higher-resolution screen would help your productivity; most notebooks come with 1366x768 which means a lot of scrolling, etc; look for 1600x900 or 1920x1080.

 

if ur getting dell , u won't find any laptop with switchable graphics... if u really want switchable graphics , consider Acer or Sony... the studio 15 doesn't have switchable graphics at all... but as for CPU , for ur uses core i7 will be best... under load , u won't have good battery life but if its not fully used , the cores park so power will be saved... battery life will be slightly less...

 

since you mentioned your on a tight budget just get the most powerful cpu you can afford.
gpu acceleration (nvidia) will only help accelerate certain effects in AE and PPro and a fast cpu and a lot of ram are still more important in getting a decent realtime preview working.

edit: fwiw adobe cs5 will only work with nvidia cards with more than 768mb or ram and 64 stream processors. right now the list of supported cards is limited but there is a hack to make any nvidia gpu that has the minimum requirements to work.

 

it looks like the outlet is for US customers only... when i changed the country to canada it just took me to the regular dell page.. that configuration will cost me about 1300-1400.. canadians really get the shaft when it comes to laptops

it's an extra $100

so CS5 doesn't work on ati radeon?? that's pretty upsetting... wth

 

yes it seems that adobe and nvidia are in some partnership.
they have both cuda and opengl support for nvidia only.