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i3 or i5?

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  • 06-07-2011 2:06pm
    #1
    Captain Slow IRL
    Registered Users Posts: 3,651 ✭✭✭


    I'm looking at a few different dell laptops and looking at different variants means I can have an i3 or an i5 installed for very similiar money. Are there any (dis)advantages to each? I've checked intel's description of each but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me beyond that the i3 has 2 cores and the i5 has 4 :o

    Which would be better for normal everyday use - I'm not into pc gaming and the most I'd do would be messing around with photo's.


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    #2
    kippy
    Registered Users Posts: 18,429 ✭✭✭✭kippy


    Captain Slow IRL wrote: »
    I'm looking at a few different dell laptops and looking at different variants means I can have an i3 or an i5 installed for very similiar money. Are there any (dis)advantages to each? I've checked intel's description of each but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me beyond that the i3 has 2 cores and the i5 has 4 :o

    Which would be better for normal everyday use - I'm not into pc gaming and the most I'd do would be messing around with photo's.


    The i5 is a more powerful chip (in general)


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    #3
    KylieWyley
    Registered Users Posts: 547 ✭✭✭KylieWyley


    Both of them will be more than capable of doing what you want them to do.

    The i5 is considered slightly higher spec and would be recommended for processor-intensive tasks requiring parallel processing - i.e., gaming. I'd get whichever one suits the budget more.

    If you're processing photos, make sure you get a laptop with fair amount of RAM. Windows OSs, by default, take up a fair chunk of memory and then you gotta add the space requirements of high res photos and photoshop on top of that.


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    #4
    Captain Slow IRL
    Registered Users Posts: 3,651 ✭✭✭Captain Slow IRL


    I'm looking at 4gb of ram, so that shouldn't be a problem!


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    #5
    KylieWyley
    Registered Users Posts: 547 ✭✭✭KylieWyley


    Definitely won't! :)

    Sometimes, PC Shops like Currys push the laptops with best processor spec on shoppers but then you find that the RAM is only like 2MB.

    If you're running Windows 7 + Photoshop + Doing a photostitch with many highres photos, you'll find that the RAM quickly gets maxed out and blocks of memory have to be dumped to the HDD.

    In that situation, you could have the fastest processor in the world and you're still limited to the speed of the HDD.

    Both i3 and i5 would be more than up for what you're looking for !


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    #6
    Captain Slow IRL
    Registered Users Posts: 3,651 ✭✭✭Captain Slow IRL


    Finally bought it after a few weeks of searching, got an i3 powered Vostro with a 15.4" screen, 4gb of ram and a 1gb ati graphics card for €591 delivered. The compromise was upgrade to 17" with an i5 but lose the graphics card. I have to say, Dell have some decent priced laptops right now (in the business section) it's well worth a look.

    Thanks for your help :)


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    #7
    kippy
    Registered Users Posts: 18,429 ✭✭✭✭kippy


    KylieWyley wrote: »
    Definitely won't! :)

    Sometimes, PC Shops like Currys push the laptops with best processor spec on shoppers but then you find that the RAM is only like 2MB.

    If you're running Windows 7 + Photoshop + Doing a photostitch with many highres photos, you'll find that the RAM quickly gets maxed out and blocks of memory have to be dumped to the HDD.

    In that situation, you could have the fastest processor in the world and you're still limited to the speed of the HDD.

    Both i3 and i5 would be more than up for what you're looking for !

    Surely not that low!! ;)

    At least with RAM however, it can usually be upgraded at some point in the future.


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