I7 2620m vs i5 2520m

well yes.
Because laptops are slow you should get the faster cpu available.Laptops are only 1/3 of their desktop counterparts.

i wouldnt say 1/3. its more like 80%. i mean if you look at the p8700 core2duo they compete with the e8400 desktop series. to answer your question i would go i7 if thinking of doing any gaming/compressing/video intensive. if you want a zippy laptop for youtube, email, online, stuff like that. then go for the i5. IMO

If 80% you say was real then we wouldnt have desktops.

processing power it's closer to 80% but for graphics it's closer to 1/3 and at a higher cost. As fudgesicko is not going to be doing anything graphically intensive I would tend to agree with mustbaj.

i7 is a lot more powerful than i5, i can't say exactly how much, but i think around 20-30% *correct me if i'm wrong*, also zulfadhli is partually right, on desktops we don't use CPUs like Intel Atom, while they are getting very popular on Netbooks *i have 2*, but on the other hand there are laptop processors that can beat desktop CPUs * for example: i5 2410 vs Pentium*, but on light apps the performance between desktop and laptop CPUs is very small.

I wont argue just find for me the benchmarks and you can prove i am wrong.

I charge you with the same challenge sir. As I agreed with you both (for the most part) I'm not sure what your asking for.

that your 80 was right.

So you feel that the "i7-920XM processor Extreme Edition" is only 33% as fast as a i7-990X Extreme Edition in the best of circumstances? Am I understanding you correctly? Feel free to prove that accurate at your leisure because I don't see that happening. As I mostly agreed with you on the graphics side I feel no need to address them.

yes.

No

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmar...

Closest I can get for you bud. Tests were only a few months apart.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i7,2443...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-sff,2312-9....

you cant compare the 920 to the 990... you can compare the 920 mobile chip to the 920 desktop and i can tell you that the 920 mobile is 80-90% as good as the 920 desktop chip. THIS IS GOING TO START A ARGUMENT SO LET ME CLEAR IT UP. I MEAN WITHOUT OVERCLOCKING. i am comparing stock.

Generally with a laptop you want to get the best you can afford to make the laptop usable for the longest period of time. If you need to start pairing down your selections to meet your price point an i5 is an acceptable downgrade and you should notice very little difference, particularly for gaming. Pay far more attention to what graphics cards you are selecting because unlike with processors the mobile graphics realm is way behind desktops. Do your research and focus on getting the best graphics card you can find (if gaming is going to be hugely important to you).