Which Processor would you choose?

[haydnt]

AMD A8-4500M1.90GHz Quad Core

AMD A6-4400M 2.7GHz Dual Core

Intel i3-3120M 2.5GHz Dual Core 3rd Gen

All I am looking for is a processor to be able to run Internet and office at the same time. I often have a 100-200 tabs in internet open and office and excel and sometimes I am streaming a video online as well. Right now I am running an AMD A4-4300 2.5GHz Dual Core processor and I haven't had any problems with it. I am not into gaming or graphics type stuff. As long as it can run a ton of tabs on the internet, stream a video and have word and excel open at the same time and not be lagging, I am fine with that.

All processors will be paired with 4GB DDR3 RAM

 

[Gaidax]

Well, considering your demands are mostly CPU related and have very little to do with GPU really, then I3 is the logical choice, since it's CPU capabilities far exceed either of the other choices.

 

[Northern Island]

100 to 200 tabs are you sure? well then you shold be better of with a AMD FX 6300 as i3 and this is almost similarly priced or else stick with i3

 

[waintdeir]

Here is a little Benchmark with this CPUs:
100% - i3-3120M
66% - A8-4500M
44% - A6-4400M
38% - A4-4300M
Based on the Price you can chose now...

 

[haydnt]

waintdeir, I have no idea what those numbers mean. Northern Island, yes I am sure, there are many times when I click the red X on my screen it says you are about to close 1XX tabs, are you sure you want to do this? So, the 2.5GHz i3 dual core is better than that 2.7GHz dual core? And is quad core not any good or is THAT quad core not any good because its only 1.9GHz?

 

[jaguarskx]

For your needs any of the CPUs will do. Are you looking to buy a new laptop? If what you currently have suffices, then there is no need to buy a new laptop unless want a new one. The A6-4400m would only be a minor upgrade. So minor that I can't see any justification to buy a laptop with that CPU if your current laptop is fine.

Between the A8 and i3, you are likely not going to notice any difference between the two so buy whichever is cheaper I suppose.

 

[waintdeir]

The numbers in my post mean the performance of the cpus related to the strongest one (i3 with 100%).
2.5GHz i3 is in most cases better than a 2.7GHz A6 cos the architecture of the Intel CPUs require less GHz to do the same...

And if you look the numbers one time again, you see that all other cpus are more powerfull than yours, so they would also do the job...

(numbers are from chipmeter.de)

 

[MU_Engineer]

AMD A8-4500M1.90GHz Quad Core

AMD A6-4400M 2.7GHz Dual Core

Intel i3-3120M 2.5GHz Dual Core 3rd Gen

All I am looking for is a processor to be able to run Internet and office at the same time. I often have a 100-200 tabs in internet open and office and excel and sometimes I am streaming a video online as well. Right now I am running an AMD A4-4300 2.5GHz Dual Core processor and I haven't had any problems with it. I am not into gaming or graphics type stuff. As long as it can run a ton of tabs on the internet, stream a video and have word and excel open at the same time and not be lagging, I am fine with that.

All processors will be paired with 4GB DDR3 RAM

Jaguarskx is correct, if your current CPU is doing fine for you, keep it. Nothing that you listed really is very CPU intensive. Web browsing and video streaming performance is highly dependent on your Internet and local network connection. Performance when keeping 100-200 tabs open in a browser depends a lot on how much RAM you have and screen size/resolution. Excel is less predictable but if you are using it as a spreadsheet program as it is intended rather than as a statistical calculation program (which it was never designed to do) your main limiting factor is screen resolution and size as it doesn't take much CPU nor RAM for a simple spreadsheet.

Your best investment would be in upgrading the RAM to 16 GB. Most laptops can take two memory modules and DDR3 is available in up to 8 GB modules at the present time.

To all the rest
The original poster's tasks do not require much CPU horsepower, he even noted that his current setup was fine. Recommending a CPU upgrade would not help him out one bit. Also, the "benchmark" waintdeir posted is some benchmark with no description other than it is single-threaded from a fairly obtuse German site. That has absolutely no bearing on what the OP is doing. Furthermore, the general recommendation is for quad-core CPUs over dual-core CPUs for general usage because most tasks can spawn multiple threads. It isn't 1999 and we're not still running DOS-based Windows any more. If the OP is getting a new laptop (for example if his current one was stolen), I'd recommend the A8-4500M because it's the only quad-core unit on the list.

 

[logainofhades]

AMD A8-4500M1.90GHz Quad Core

AMD A6-4400M 2.7GHz Dual Core

Intel i3-3120M 2.5GHz Dual Core 3rd Gen

All I am looking for is a processor to be able to run Internet and office at the same time. I often have a 100-200 tabs in internet open and office and excel and sometimes I am streaming a video online as well. Right now I am running an AMD A4-4300 2.5GHz Dual Core processor and I haven't had any problems with it. I am not into gaming or graphics type stuff. As long as it can run a ton of tabs on the internet, stream a video and have word and excel open at the same time and not be lagging, I am fine with that.

All processors will be paired with 4GB DDR3 RAM

If your current CPU is working fine for you, there is little need to change it. I would bump up to 8gb of ram instead. Getting a new CPU would require a new laptop most likely.

 

[waintdeir]

@MU_Engineer:
I never told that more power will be required. I just wrote "they would also do the job..." and thats what i tried to say here. (if you see the results of the votes you see that most people think that power is better, even if he does not needs the power)
The Benchmark is comparing all the cpus at their effective power. You can find it on more sites like http://www.gamezone.de/Benchmarks/ and it is multi-threading based. But thank you for your feedback.

Back to the topic:
I agree to chose a quad amd because it can handle more threads with a better price/power ratio...

(And I am sorry if not everybody understands my texts the way i want... It is just because I dont need to speak english alot and I only need it for the internet and at my PC.)

Greetings, waintdeir