Swapping Intel Core i5 460M with i7 740M?

Not sure if this was answered in another thread or not, I searched but couldn't find it.

It's a basic question. I'm looking at a laptop with an i5 460M processor (the Asus N53JF-XE1, if you must know) and that's really the only sticking point for me.

I do a lot of video processing and would really like to get a quad-core in this machine (I know that the similar N61 series has 740M's, but the resolution is too low for me). It has Optimus so I'm not sure if a straight swap would be OK to do.

Anyone?

 

i7-740M doesn't have an IGP, which Optimus requires. The discrete graphics card connects through the IGP so you do need it.

 

You can always get a 640m.

 

+1 for a 620m, VERY fast dual core, like the fastest or close to.

 

Consider a i5-580M or i7-620M Arrandale CPU with onboard IGP. Either will deliver great performance. Some say the i5-580M is cheaper and benchmarks *faster*??

 

Some people are dumb.

The only difference between the 620M and 580M are the 620M has 1 faster step in single core turbo mode and 1MB more of L3 cache. The 580M is a far better buy. It is barely any slower than even the 640M.

 

The price difference (on ebay) for the 640 and 580m is about 20 dollars... I see no reason not to get the 640m if that's the standard difference.

 

Ah, well then that's a different story. I was thinking more along the lines of buying a new PC.

 

I understood TC to be saying that he's upgrading. But yes, I agree with you that the differences between the two are really hard to see... but 20 bucks is just so little when you consider that you're spending ~300.

 

That's what I thought. Too bad for Asus then. No money from me. Too bad, it really was the perfect laptop for me, except the processor (and the damn glossy screen). Back to the business laptops.

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

I've read a little more about this on the web. Not much information on it. I do know that the i7 processors do not have the room to have the IGP on it to allow Optimus to work, thus why the i5 processors are used instead since they are dual-core only.

However, what if I don't care about Optimus? I mean I pretty much spend my time on the laptop plugged into the wall. If I do go on battery I'm only on maybe 2 hours max and only to word process, Internet and/or email. So screw Optimus, I don't need it really.

Since the 460M and 740M use the same chipset and the same socket, shouldn't I be able to stick a 740M into the laptop and just have Optimus not work but get the benefit of quad core processing?

 

That's the point he was trying to make. Apparently, when a laptop is designed to use Optimus, it won't be able to use the discrete card without there being an IGP in the laptop.

 

Dammit! I hate Optimus (both NVIDIA's and Michael Bay's).

 

Yup, Optimus sucks for that reason; ATI switchable graphics seem much better. While it is possible to swap an i7 in, the display would not be connected to any graphics card and thus look like crap.