i3-3110M or i5-3320M

Is it worth to give an extra(300$) money to have i5? I want to buy a new laptop, x230 would be great but I have a problem with choosing processor. A model with i5 costs 300$ more in my country. Is i3-3110M faster than i5-3317U or not? I am only watch movies(full hd) on external monitor, browse and that is it. Sometimes I edit some zips with Android ROMS. Has i3 enough power for watching full hd movie on external monitor and browsing internet in the same time without stuttering?


Now I have i5-430m. Is i3-3110m faster than it?

 

Definitely don't need the i5. Save the money or buy an SSD.

It is faster, but you probably wouldn't notice the difference.

 

Thanks!
Yes I want to buy Samsung 830 120 gb, but what about this:
"Has i3 enough power for watching full hd movie on external monitor and browsing internet in the same time without stuttering?"

 

It will be fine, your 430m is already more than enough.

 

Do you have x220t right? How about touchpad ? is it good? Did you try win8?

I am afraid about lack of turbo boost, firstly I want hp touchsmart 4t but know thinkpad seems to be a better choice because of better cpu.

Now I use n71Ja with dedicated graphics and I am a bit concerned about performance of x230i.

 

The touchpad was really bad at launch, but it's gotten a little better with driver updates. I still prefer the trackpoint, and I don't use W8.

 

I don't know about the driver updates, but the X220t touchpad was one reason I got rid of mine. It was horrendous, so inaccurate, unlike any other clickpad I have ever used.

HD4000 should be capable of casual gaming, heck HD 3000 runs Source engine games smoothly on medium/high settings.

 

Here is a side by side comparison of the processors in question. I see no real big reason to upgrade from the i3. Comparison

CPU barely has anything to do with video play back anyway, it's going to be either the HD4000 graphics or a seperate GPU. Save your money as already stated.

 

Regardless of whether one processor is more powerful than another (yeah: the i5 is less than 9% faster than the i3) for your uses as stated it is a waste to spend $300 more.

Both are at least 43% more powerful than the 430m you have now and any of those will play 'full HD video'.

See:
PassMark - Intel Core i3-3110M @ 2.40GHz - Price performance comparison

See:
PassMark - Intel Core i5-3317U @ 1.70GHz - Price performance comparison

See:
PassMark - Intel Core i5 M 430 @ 2.27GHz - Price performance comparison


And if you want to see full HD video on external while browsing: make sure you have at least 8GB RAM so that 'stutters' will be minimal to non-existent.

Also highly recommend you consider an SSD bigger than 128GB - the 830 especially will 'stutter' if used at full capacity (even with generous overprovisioning).

Anand Lal Shimpi

See:
AnandTech - The Intel SSD DC S3700 (200GB) Review


SSD's with small capacities and high fill rates (% filled) don't translate to high storage subsystem performance. The Samsung 830 seems especially susceptible to hitting these performance 'walls'. See the attached graph that shows what a 256GB Samsung 840 PRO responds like with heavy usage while the second graph shows the 180GB Intel 330 Series .

Hope this helps.

Good luck.