X201: Power consumption i5-540 v. i7-620?

Hi Thinkpad folks,

I'm about to pull the trigger on an X201.

It's the right size and I have used the optical drive on my T60p 3 times since 2007 so the lack of an optical drive is a non-starter.

I want the X201 because of portability and battery life.

I have it in my budget to get the i7 (the extra $xxx isn't an issue) and I have a X25-m waiting for a nice boost in speed. Knowing this....

...please chime in: If I get the i5 versus the i7 will I see a difference in battery life?

Thanks for your help guys.

 

It's unlikely you'll notice much of a difference (although technically the i7 would consume more power, on both load and idling), however, unless you have a specific need where a Core i7 would be beneficial (aka CPU bottleneck), I would stick with the i5 - why spend money on an upgrade that you won't even notice?

 

i5 and i7 dual core are pretty much the same in performance, and it actually runs slightly hotter than the i5 equivalent.

But obviously intel did whole i5 vs i7 dual core moniker as a price skimming method, and they are people whom would actually buy into just for the sake of the i7 badge.

 

From what I've seen on benchmark sites, the i7-620m has a significantly better benchmark than either of the offered i5 CPUs.
(I suppose that's totally subjective as to what you would think of as "significant".) On some tests it beats the quad-core 720qm.

If power consumption is an issue, there are many settings in both the Power Manager and BIOS to throttle the CPU to increase battery life. I bought the X201 with the i7 only because it was currently offered as a "sale" configuration and I wanted the most powerful CPU they offered with it currently.

 

This review looks at price, power consumption and speed - and concludes that the i5 is the sweet spot when comparing these CPUS:

Notebookcheck: Review Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Processors ?Arrandale?
"...Although Intel states a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 35W for all tested chips, the nominal power consumption turn out very different in the single tests... Even if the i5 processors have a slight lead in many exercises in terms of performance, the i7-620M CPU reveals itself as being especially energy devouring. The CPU treats itself to about 15W more, with up to 64.7W under load, than the i5 colleagues. The test system also needs around 10W more in idle mode with 30W than the configuration with a Core i5 chip..."

 

It may be power-hungry compared to the i5, but, as stated above, you have a lot of control over power consumption both thru the Power Manager and in the BIOS. (Glad I got the 9-cell battery after reading this.)

One of the things I love about ThinkPads is the highly configurable BIOS. I can turn off ports and peripherals I'm not using. I can block power to the "always-on" USB port. I can do many, many things to conserve power to compensate for the higher power demands of the i7. I don't see it as a major problem, I'm glad to have the additional processing power there when I need (or just want) it.

 

Most benchmarks I've seen place the i7-620M with single-digit performance gains over the i5-540M - hardly worth it for the price difference. Personally, I would stick with the i5-520M - it provides more performance than even most power users will ever need.

 

The wattage numbers from that test seem kinda...out there.
This thread, starting around the middle of this page and going on to the next page, seems to give more realistic numbers
http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...re-i7-620m-heat-battery-life-questions-3.html

 

Thanks guys,

I'm hesitant to accept the notebookcheck numbers. The numberseem a little off. I think I'm getting the i7.

Thanks all.

 

I'm running the X201 with i7-620m right now on battery (9-cell) and the settings for power are on "ThinkPad Default" and my brightness is at 12 (out of 15). With 86% battery left it's telling me I have 7 hrs & 17 minutes left. Pretty good for not having done any tweaking of the power settings or made any changes in the BIOS settings yet. Of course, the other issue is what am I doing/running. I'm surfing the web via Wi-Fi. That's about it. I've yet to go through the services and shut down all the ones I'll never need or use that just sit there and take up CPU cycles.

 

Is there much of a difference with bluray playback? I've maxed out my X200 tablet playing bluray movies. It's caused the machine to kill Aero and stutter.

 

It sounds like the people from notebookcheck don't know how to properly configure power savings on their 620m. I've seen the meter go from 11W to about...I think it was 55W.

If you are maxing out blu-ray playback (especially with CPU), you probably have something incorrectly configured. 'course that's with just an X200. Arrandale should work fine with BD movies.

 

I'm curious.. what does your T410 show on average? I've always thought mine runs high. E.g. it's 30W right now. (Docked with 2 screens, Turbo Boost enabled. Adaptive CPU, Max GPU). I think on battery undocked I can squeeze about 15 out of it but if I remember, it runs around 18-23.

 

You have i5-520m and i7-620m T410s. For CPU, which one do you like?
What's your idle and load wattage of the i5 and i7.
Does the i7 generate more heat and consume more power than i5.
I'm hesitating on i5 or i7 now. Price is not my concern, but hear/noise is.
Thanks