I5 vs Core 2 Duo

[sahaj]

I want to buy a laptop to use it on a daily basis and to run Catia, Coral and Adobe.
Just want to know which one is faster core 2 duo and i5, which one is better and by how much?

 

[ilikegirls]

Well you need to remember that the i5 is running Hyper threading and turbo boost and the Core 2 Duo isnt.
i believe it depends on the amount of money you are willing to spend on this laptop.
but to answer your question directly the i5 will be a much better choice

 

[arwest]

Hi, I've been in the hunt for the fastest cheapest lightest doesn't overheat laptop for the past few months. As we speak I am trying out laptop #6, #5 is in the corner, and I'm sending #4 back today.

Here's what I've learned.
You do not what the Core 2 Duo.
You must get one of the new intel chips.
The best intel chips are either i5 or i7. The difference between the i5 and i7 is hyperthreading. If you are going to use software that requires the use of a lot of threads at one time, you have to get an i7 720 or higher.

The biggest downside of i7 720 chips and higher is they use a lot of memory and energy.
The other downside is since most software apps don't need more than one or two threads to operate, the i7 720 chip and higher will generally operate at it's minimum ghz and not their turbo boost speeds. The i7 720's minimum is 1.60ghz. an 820 chip will go at 1.73ghz. The 920 is 2.0.
On the other hand the i5 540 runs at 2.53ghz, the i7 620 at 2.66gz.

I generally have foxfire open with at least 10 to 12 tabs, my web design program, a wed editor, a few games, excel, word, skype, sobees, photoshop, ftp program, and my live stream site open at the same time.

I found I did not need hyper threading. The i7 620 is doing an amazing job. You need at least a 4mb cache. I also have 6mb of memory at 1333mhz and a 500 gb hard drive at 7200 rpm.

As long as I'm talking, let me suggest some laptops for you. I tried Toshiba, Vaio, Lenova, and HP. Oh and Dell. All went back. I believe the two best laptops for value are Sager 8690 and Micro Express nbl50. Former with my configuration is about 400 dollars more than the Micro Express due to the warranty and the keypad. Check them both out. Good luck.

 

[cadder]

The new "i5" chips will be faster. I've compared core2 quads with the i5-750 and in my tests the i5 was about 15% faster than the core2 quad at the same clock speed. Also most of the "i" chips have turbo mode which automatically overclocks them when you are stressing less than the full number of cores. Using the i5-750 example- it can boost its speed from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz under some conditions. Add its 15% advantage to that and you would have to run a Core2 processor at 3.7 GHz to get equivalent performance. All of the "i" cpu's have different stock speeds and different turbo speeds so you can look up the performance numbers for the one(s) that you are finding in laptops.

I believe if you want a small and light laptop with best battery life, you are probably stuck with a core2 processor, but in those machines performance is not a priority anyway.

 

[darkguset]

The biggest downside of i7 720 chips and higher is they use a lot of memory and energy.
The other downside is since most software apps don't need more than one or two threads to operate, the i7 720 chip and higher will generally operate at it's minimum ghz and not their turbo boost speeds.

Excuse my ignorance, but

1) how is a different CPU affecting memory usage by such a measurable amount? (a lot of memory???)

2) when software does not use a lot of threads THEN the Turbo boost technology kicks in and overclocks the fewer cores, not the other way around (you have it wrong)

 

[FALC0N]

The new "i5" chips will be faster. I've compared core2 quads with the i5-750 and in my tests the i5 was about 15% faster than the core2 quad at the same clock speed........

but the 750 is a quad. The other I5 chips are not.

The dual core I5 chips, which is all current I5 chips other that the I5 750, are the best choice for a laptop. Best balance of speed,heat, and power. Thats exactly what you want in a laptop.