Do I really need an i7?

I am about to place my order for the HP ENVY 15 and was wondering do I really need an i7 for what I will be doing? Think I plan on doing, is watching tons of movies, shows streaming and listening to music, running Office Suite and I will be using Fruity Loops and the only game I will be playing is Diablo 3 when it comes out..So do you think i need an i7? Whats the main difference between those two?

 

Difference is # of cores. A few other subtle differences which you wouldn't engage. You'll be plenty happy with the i5 as it is more than enough power for what you do.

Consider also, that Core2Duo CPUs from a few years ago have no issues running the apps you use. And the GPU is very good also.

 

I will offer the other side of this, you can never upgrade your CPU, and so for the small price to bump up to an i7 you get 2 extra cores and a bit more speed. Maybe you don't think you need it today, but it might be something you like later.

For example, maybe you want to play Diablo 3, listen to music, have a Skype call, all while using your web browser. A quad core is going to perform noticeably better in a situation where you multitask than the 2 core i5.

 

Nah bro, you can definitely upgrade your CPU. Many on this site, including myself have upgraded their CPU on various models. Though, in come cases, upgrading the CPU means having to get a new mobo. Now, the GPU is another story since the majority of GPUs are soldered to the mobo. Just responding to the "never" part. But point taken in that some may not be adept enough to do the job.

Also, one can multitask just fine with an i5. While it has two physical cores, it has 4 logical cores (threads). OTOH, one of the benefits of a quad core is 4 physical cores and 8 logical. If one uses multi-threaded software that can capitalize on the extra cores , like some rendering, encoding/decoding software, or Photoshop, then by all means get a quad core. Otherwise, it's overkill that will be under utilized.

But if one is not doing any of this stuff now and plans to buy a new system in a few years, no real point in spending the extra coin to "future proof" their system with a quad-core.

 

thanks for the input i might just buy with i7, since i plan on keeping the envy for a few years.

 

I had no idea it was ever possible to upgrade a laptop CPU. When I checked into it in the past both the GPU and CPU were generally non-upgradable without serious equipment.

 

How much into the "future" are we talking about here? Im having doubts as well since id much rather save $100 if i realistically wouldnt need an i7. What kind of tasks will i need to be doing for there to be drastic differences whether i have an i5 or i7?

 

No worries, mate. All that one needs is a screw driver (philips) and a razor/straight edge to spread thermal compound.

Heavy duty computing. Gaming? No, since the majority of games are not deigned to use a quad core. But a i5 is a type of quad core in that while it has 2 cores, each core has 2 threads of logical cores. The dual cores before these were 1 thread per core.

As for the future, windows 8 isn't going to change that since it is being designed to run very well on older hardware like the Santa Rosa chipset.

The overwhelming majority of users have no need of an i7. You need to be running multithreaded apps and/or do a great deal of multitasking to even begin to notice a difference. I have notebooks with Santa Rosa, Montevina, And Sandy Bridge chipsets. For my normal course of activities, I can't tell a single difference between them. Only difference is gaming. But that is because of the different GPUs.

 

Im definitely gaming, but i guess sknce you say it wont make much of a difference im more worried about the fan noise and heating differences between i5 and i7.

 

Which would tend to heat up more? an i5 or an i7?

 

The i7. But whether the difference is to an extent that would matter at all i have no idea.

 

I always thought that if you did tons of multi-tasking the ram mattered more than the GPU...I do a lot of multi-tasking on my old Gateway m6862 (core 2 duo) have at times 6+ programs open and once and heats up like crazy and shuts off by itself. Do you think I would have this problem if I go with an i5 and 8GB RAM?

 

good news, absolutely not. The Gateway you owned had very poor heat management combined with a weak processor. The i5 runs much cooler and is several orders of magnitude more powerful. The i7 will at times run hotter than the i5 having more cores and higher TDP wattage. Also, the i7 will also consume more battery life than the i5.

So unless you really need an i7, and you'd probably know if you did, get the i5.

8GB is ideal but not necessary as windows will page out the memory to disk. But if you afford the extra RAM, you won't regret it even though you may not use it all the time.

 

Thanks for all your help..

I guess i'm go for an i5, since I will only do multi-tasking and use the extra ram. I am not a crazy user.. Thanks for your input..

 

Many DAWs including FL take advantage of quad core processors. I have run FL 9.0 & Sonar 8, 8.5, x1 on my envy which has a i5 with up to 3.066ghz turbo and find it runs well, but it could defiantly be better.

At first when tracking it's fast and works perfectly, but once you start adding more tracks and FX it will slow down rapidly and you will have to start consolidating tracks. I have also found that once you get a decent amount of tracks recorded that you will get a delay if you start to record another if you have any FX on the other tracks. To get around this I usually have to turn off all FX while recording and only enable them when mastering.

Then again the quality the mixer you're using will also effect this, but I would highly recommend getting an i7. Audio production is highly dependent on processing speed, if you don't plan on creating that much then an i5 might suit you well, but if you intend to mess around with FL a lot then I would go for an i7.

Wish I did when I bought my envy, now I need to buy a replacement motherboard before even considering upgrading up to an i7 :|

 

No. Based on your post you don't need an i7. An i5 would be very suitable. Plus the fact that you need to ask if you need an i7 suggests that you don't need one. Usually people who need power know they need power.

I have an i5. My CPU only goes to around 70% tops in games. (but I don't play CPU intensive games)

However... I'm not saying that you can't futureproof. If you have the money then you can.

An i5 is not weak at all. I remember the times when slow celerons, core duo's, and Athlons made me slam my head against the table from boredom.

 

If you really want to see an improvement in your laptop, get an SSD for your boot drive. It's like night and day; one of the most drastic changes you can make that is immediately noticeable regardless of CPU choice.

 

What about for programs such as Autocad and matlab?

 

Any software will perform noticeably better off an SSD, but the extent varies with the type of program. I suspect AutoCAD would, but last I used it it was relatively big and bloated so it might use up too much space as SSDs are relatively pricey.

MATLAB is similar. Last I used it, it was more CPU/RAM bound as it spends most of its time computing. MATLAB files were much smaller than CAD drawings, thus CAD might get a boost from loading large drawings off an SSD whereas MATLAB would get more of a boost from better CPU/RAM.

YMMV

 

I was actually highly considering upgrading my envy HDD to SSD, but was unsure weather the extreamly high prices were worth the preformance (espeically with HDD prices now -_-)

Would it be wise to keep heavily used programs on the SSD & other saved files such as media on a external HDD? $200 for 128gb is rough :|

 

Another question I have is that, I have a network seagate HD that is connected to all my computes where I store my movies and shows, will an i7 or i5 make any difference in streaming will be smooth regardless of the ENVY being i7 or i5?

 

It will have no effect one way or the other. It will be smooth with either. What would have an effect is the type wireless card you have and router. There are dual ban routers and wifi cards that simultaneously use both bands (2.4ghz and 5ghz) for a throughput around 450Mbits/s.