i5-2520m vs i7-2630qm

This summer i will be buying a laptop before I go off to college. I will want to do some gaming on it like starcraft II and battlefield 3 when it comes out. I've heard that a lot of programs don't even utilize 4 cores efficiently. The i5's stock clock is 2.5ghz compared to the i7's 2.0ghz. Would the i5 perform better in most situations. The i5 uses less power also doesn't it? Would the i7 be worth the extra $45 in the particular laptop that I am looking at?

 

This debate between a dual and quad was really relevant back in the previous generation of the Core i-Series. However, the Sandy Bridge i7 quads has been vastly improved over the Clarksfields in terms of power efficiency and performance. Unless the laptop you are using is under 15.6" inches, there is really no point to go dual anymore, considering the fact the the Sandy Bridge quads can be just as battery efficient as the previous generation Arrandale duals and has more power even on the base 2630QM over the 940XM Extreme Edition in most cases from the previous generation (especially now that quads can Turbo Boost on par and better than the duals, despite the duals having a higher base clock speed and among other things).

I'd say go 2630QM. The debate was still valid over the previous generation but if you are going gaming performance with at least a 15.6" laptop platform, there is almost no excuse to not go quad for the Sandy Bridge generation.

 

i5 TDP is lower but temperatures are going to be dependent on what laptop you purchase (an i7 in a thick gaming laptop will be cooler than a cheapo 500 dollar i5 machine cooling).

If you play SC2 and BF3, I would suggest the quad core i7. SC2 benefits from more cores, and if BF3 is like BFBC2, then it as well benefits from more cores as well.

@ $45 I would pull the trigger. If you were to sell the i5 and upgrade later it could be more plus hassles stripping apart your laptop. Now if it were like 200, then no.

 

Yes, I am forgot to mention that SC2 and BC2 are very CPU-dependent games (on top of being GPU-dependant). People who play BC2 on a dual and on a quad with the same GPU saw that the quads still generated more frames.

 

Thanks for the advice! looks like ill be going with the quad core.

 

Which laptop is it? Sager NP5160? I'd assume so because that's what the upgrade costs for that laptop.

If so I'd also suggest you get the IC Diamond Thermal Compound upgrade to help with cooling.