HP ENVY 14 , more memory VS Higher Processor Speed

Folks,

I have two exactly the same of ENVY 14 beats with me,
the only difference are
1. i5 460m, 6GB RAM
2. i5 560m , 4GB RAM
They both turned out to be the same price...

Couple questions:
1. Which one is better ? More RAM or Higher speed ?
2. One thing that I see is the i5460M , 6GB RAM is higher in temperature than the other one... can anybody explain this ??

 

I'd go with the faster processor - RAM is easier and cheaper to upgrade, generally, and if the one with the 560 runs cooler (for whatever reason, probably just a standard deviation in the manufacturing process), it seems like a no-brainer.

 

I agree.. cool and fast cpu is almost everything!

 

i am wondering if anybody else out there who has the i5-560 is seeing the same thing ?

 

i5-560m is definitely the one to take.

and regarding temps - maybe the on-die gpu of the 560m isnt active, whereas the one of the 460m is, or they have different power-saving profiles active.

 

I would suggest to go with i5 560m , 4GB RAM

 

As someone suggested above, spring the extra $20 and get your 4GB RAM on a single DIMM... it will allow you to upgrade to 8GB more cheaply in the future, since you won't have to replace both sticks.

 

I am going to go against the stream and recommend upgrading the memory, get the 1 DIMM 4gb option and install another stick yourself it should save you money. I am not sure about the heating issues with the processor on this model but when it comes down to it you wouldnt even notice the difference in cpu speed and anyone who says differently is a liar or inexperienced with computers. The difference would be at full processing speed .13 instructions per cycle w/o overclocking. If you were talking about getting an i7 quadcore my answer might be different.

 

Go for the processor upgrade. The i5-560m gives you 133MHz speed boost and has a 400MHz greater turbo frequency compared to the 460m. Furthermore, the i5-560m offers AES instructions, and VT, which will aid in encryption/decryption and OS virtualization if you use those.

Both the 560m and 460m have the same TDP, 35 watts. The 560m is like a more efficient 460m. Hence, if both processors were run at the same frequency, the 560m would run cooler. The reason why the i5-560m was probably runner hotter is because it was most likely running at a higher frequency than the 460m. I would not worry too much about the temperature.

Furthermore, the processor is harder to upgrade because you need to open up the entire notebook. Memory is much easier to upgrade on your own. Go for the processor upgrade and later on you can buy a 4GB RAM stick for less than $100. You don't have to have matched RAM sticks. Dual channel memory access gives about 3-5% performance boost, but that's when you're using programs that like to eat up a lot of memory.

@jagg3d3d93

Don't go around calling people liars or calling them "inexperienced". The fact that you posted something like that just shows how inexperienced you are. You cannot convert clock speed to instructions per cycle. There are many factors other than just clock speed that affect how many instructions can be processed per cycle especially since such things like Hyperthreading.

 

You do realize that to notice the difference in processing speed between the 560 and 460 you would have yo run the notebook for years before there would be any distinguishable difference in results from the execution of threads. Paying 100 dollars more for that small of a jump in a processor is absurd.

Core i5-460M

* Frequency: 2.53 GHz
* GPU Freq: 500–766 MHz
* Cache L2: 2 × 256 KB
* Cache L3: 3 MB
* Memory: 2 × DDR3-1066
* Socket: µPGA-988 - BGA-1288

Core i5-560M

* Frequency: 2.67 GHz
* GPU Freq: 500-766 MHz
* Cache L2: 2 × 256 KB
* Cache L3: 3 MB
* Memory: 2 × DDR3-1066
* Socket: µPGA-989


There are your listed differences aside from your overclocking "turboboost" functionality.

Also @metril I know that there are things that affect instructions per cycle, but these processors are in the same family line and their only difference is clockspeed. And since all other factors in the laptop would be the same anyway that is our only variable in this situation. I am an upper division Information Systems Student, this is my passion my muse if you will.

 

@jagg3d3d93

The OP states that both configurations are the same price. It would not take years to notice the difference. Did I say that the speed increase was the only benefit of the 560m? I don't think I did.

If the configuration with the 560m was more expensive, I would tell the OP to go for the 460m. In fact, I'd tell the OP to forgo the 6GB ram and buy the RAM after market. This is assuming that the OP can CTO the Envy 14.

 

CPU speed is so over-rated compared to RAM. We can what if this death and pick obscure scenarios to counter any situation....so:

But based on those 2 options I'd take more RAM in a heartbeat.

 

geeze. Its not that difficult. Think about your computing habits. Do you tend to have many memory-intensive applications open simultaneously? If so, then RAM is going to be the answer.

as was stated by one person earlier, you will NOT notice the difference in speed between 2.53 and 2.67 ghz.
-to be honest though, I do not understand enough about the "turbo boost" frequencies and how applicable they are to real-world usage. However, if it is as simple as 2.8ghz vs 3.2 ghz, then there may be a noticeable difference there. I would do some research as to whether the native or turbo boost frequencies are more important though.

I had the same question as you and ended up going for the extra RAM because I tend to have lots running at once. Unless you're just trying to up the cost of the laptop so that it is eligible for some coupon though, I would vote to save the money and put it toward a good SSD. An intel G2 or SF-1200 based SSD 120gb can now be had for <$200 and should yield a much bigger change in performance than any upgrade available on the envy.

 

Given the exact same price points, frankly, for the convenience alone, I would actually get LESS RAM if I could get the even SLIGHTLY faster processor.

It's infinitely easier to upgrade RAM than it ever would be for me to upgrade the processor.

Even better yet, it's probably easier for me to live with waiting till RAM prices drop even more to upgrade the RAM. You need to take the entire chassis apart to upgrade the processor compared to taking a panel off. That's a lot less hassle in my opinion.