I7 2nd gen laptop vs i5 2nd gen laptops

[nexus_nexion]

I want to purchase a laptop with i7 2630Q, but the difference in price is quite big. i5 for Desktop PC is Quad, but it seem for laptop it's dual, would the performance be that much of a differnece?

 

[robertito]

What are you planning to do with the laptop? i5 will do fine for basic computer use and some gaming, i7 will be better for photo/video/audio editing and transcoding.

 

[nexus_nexion]

Well I want to use it for gaming and transcoding. Is i7 really that much better than the i5? worth going for the i7 more?

 

[jaguarskx]

For gaming, the difference should not be too great of a difference, unless the game itself requires a quad core CPU.

As for transcoding, I guess it depends what codec you intend on using. If you are encoding video using the x.264 codec, then a quad core CPU will definitely outperform a dual core CPU. However, if you use XviD, then there won't be much of a difference since the XviD codec basically uses just one core.

I encode some videos for my Cowon S9 media player using the XviD codec on my Lenovo IdeaPad with a Core i5-2410m (dual core + Hyper Threading). Looking at task manager, at best the codec only uses 40% at most and the least would be around 30% (it fluctuates from moment to moment). Encoding video using XViD codec on my quad core Q9450 rig, the load placed on my CPU according to task manager is at most 33%.

Encoding with x.264 on the other hand maxes out my Q9450 and it should also max out my Core i5-2410m since x.264 can take advantage of Hyper Threading. I encoded something last week on my laptop using x.264 (1st time doing so), and I'm pretty sure the Core i5 was maxed out at near 100%.

 

[nexus_nexion]

Are there any chance in the near future that they will use the full 8 cores in the i7 in transcoding? If yes, I think I would go for the i7 instead. If not anytime soon, I think i5 would best bet

 

[amuffin]

The i7 has hyperthreading, where as the i5 doesn't. i7 4 cores 8 threads, i5 4 cores 4 threads.