What makes these processors different?

[Karsten75]

Hi all, I'm looking at getting my next Thinkpad from Lenovo and it offers 3 processor options. What stumps me is that for once, the processor with the fastest Ghz (but smallest L2 cache) is the cheapest.

I went to the Intel site to do a comparison and frankly I'm confused.

Here is the link to the Intel processor comparison: http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=52237,50067,52227,

Lenovo has the i7-2720QM as the base price processor.

To upgrade to the i7-2820QM is an additional $180.

To upgrade to the i7-2920XM is $675 over the base price.

For the life of me I can't tell what makes the processors different/better. Can some kind person please shed some light for me?

Thank you.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Hi all, I'm looking at getting my next Thinkpad from Lenovo and it offers 3 processor options. What stumps me is that for once, the processor with the fastest Ghz (but smallest L2 cache) is the cheapest.

I went to the Intel site to do a comparison and frankly I'm confused.

Here is the link to the Intel processor comparison: http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=52237,50067,52227,

Lenovo has the i7-2720QM as the base price processor.

To upgrade to the i7-2820QM is an additional $180.

To upgrade to the i7-2920XM is $675 over the base price.

For the life of me I can't tell what makes the processors different/better. Can some kind person please shed some light for me?

Thank you.

operating frequency

 

[Karsten75]

Dude, that's a fancy graphic of the same information in the link I posted - except yours is tiny and I can barely read it. It still does not tell me what makes the processors worth more.

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Here is the review for
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Sandy-Bridge-Quad-Core-processors.43714.0.html

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

Here are some more reviews:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Sandy-Bridge-Processors-Gaming-Performance.49600.0.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-2820qm-sandy-bridge-mobile,2838.html

 

[Umbongo]

Dude, that's a fancy graphic of the same information in the link I posted - except yours is tiny and I can barely read it. It still does not tell me what makes the processors worth more.

The difference is the clock speed. That's it. You can use basic math to determine how much faster it might be; i.e if faster clock speed divided by slower clock speed = 1.05 then it is at most 5% faster. Some people want the best; some people can benefit as their time is worth a lot of money; Intel charge as much as they can. The 2720 is more than enough for most users.

 

[etk]

There may be other differences in the laptops that justify the price difference, aside from CPU.

 

[cbrunnem]

The difference is the clock speed. That's it. You can use basic math to determine how much faster it might be; i.e if faster clock speed divided by slower clock speed = 1.05 then it is at most 5% faster. Some people want the best; some people can benefit as their time is worth a lot of money; Intel charge as much as they can. The 2720 is more than enough for most users.

no its not a five percent gain. its more like a 12 percent gain from the 2630qm to a 2720qm at max turbo. its a pretty nice gain from the 2630qm.

id get the 2720qm if you got the money.

 

[cbrunnem]

oh i just noticed that the 2630qm isnt an option sorry i am wrong. the 2720 is the best option in regards to price/performance. unless you are doing really intense cpu programs

 

[Haserath]

Hi all, I'm looking at getting my next Thinkpad from Lenovo and it offers 3 processor options. What stumps me is that for once, the processor with the fastest Ghz (but smallest L2 cache) is the cheapest.

I went to the Intel site to do a comparison and frankly I'm confused.

Here is the link to the Intel processor comparison: http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=52237,50067,52227,

Lenovo has the i7-2720QM as the base price processor.

To upgrade to the i7-2820QM is an additional $180.

To upgrade to the i7-2920XM is $675 over the base price.

For the life of me I can't tell what makes the processors different/better. Can some kind person please shed some light for me?

Thank you.

Two slight differences between the 2720QM and the 2920XM.

Clockspeed and L3 cache. This might make a 10% difference in some programs, but definitely not worth the price. The processor has a higher TDP to go with it anyway, so it's a 10% gain with a ~20% gain in TDP thus draining battery life faster.

You might as well base the speed difference on the Quad turbo boost speed, because that's where these processors will be when fully loaded.

Intel always seems to make an extreme model that is basically the worst price for performance out there, but there are people that buy it apparently.

 

[Karsten75]

Best answer selected by karsten75.

 

[cbrunnem]

Two slight differences between the 2720QM and the 2920XM.

Clockspeed and L3 cache. This might make a 10% difference in some programs, but definitely not worth the price. The processor has a higher TDP to go with it anyway, so it's a 10% gain with a ~20% gain in TDP thus draining battery life faster.

You might as well base the speed difference on the Quad turbo boost speed, because that's where these processors will be when fully loaded.

Intel always seems to make an extreme model that is basically the worst price for performance out there, but there are people that buy it apparently.

i just wanted to remind people that just because the tdp is higher on the 2920 doesnt mean its going to get worse battery life. most of the time the cpu will be throttled down to the same speed as a 2720 so they should be about the same.