CPU and GPU dilemma (new laptop --> Multitasking)

I guess others have or will have the same dilemma, since the new "i" CPUs hit the market so here it is in a separate thread...:

My question is regarding the 2 currently most offered CPUs:
i5 520M and i7 620M.

For the laptop I am currently looking at and is by default configered with i5 520M, the i7 620M would cost me approximately 200 euros extra.

I am wondering if it is 200 euros worth it!? I initially wanted i7 only but now I am seriously wondering because of the price difference.

The i7 620M comes 4th/5th in the benchmarks, whereas the i5 520M is 13th.



What comes to my mind is that just an year or 2 later, the one will be at for ex. 94th place it the future benchmarks and the other on 102 ---> It wouldn't really matter that much

To be more specific here's what I use my PC for: putting all standart stuff aside (emailing (a few big email folders in my incredimail), browsing (the internet is my second home), documents (Acrobat Reader, Office...), chatting, movies, music, pictures (a lot of those - up to 10 000 in a folder etc.), every now and then I use Photoshop (currently CS4) as I am a hobby photographer and Dreamweaver for webdesign as I am supporting a small website which needs updating.

I rarely play games and if - I like some old classics such as Need for Speed, Quake (2,3), Counter Strike, Delta Force, etc.


What puts my current PC mostly under stress is multitasking. Yes, I am a hard multitasker and as I write those lines, I have a double task bar and 14 minimized windows (Most of them Mozilla, each of which has at least 2-3 tabs opened internally)

So taking the above into account - what do you think? Is it worth it investing extra 200 euros in an i7 CPU which is 8-9 positions higher in the benchmarks or rather invest it in another feature (some more RAM later on or SSD...)?

Regarding the GPU included in the subject line I have just one question - do you think Nvidia GeForce 310M would satisfy my needs or should I rather look for a different PC (as this is the only one offered for this one) with a 330M for example, which belongs to the "Performance" GPUs according to Nvidia.

Thanks for all your replies!!

Thanks for your opinion!

I started with the idea for i7 and nothing else, but now that I see the price difference really wonder...

If it was up to say 100 euros I would most likely invest in i7... but 200 ... hmmm. And especially with my scope of activities maybe I would do more good if I add more RAM at a later point (it comes with 4GB) and a nice SSD

Thanks powerpack!

Well besides the few MHz extra, let's not forget that the i7 has 4MB Cache compared to 3MB for the i5.... that's what actually makes it more productive. But still --> 200 euros is quite a lot of money for such an upgrade I am starting to think...

Yes, you are for the most part of it right - I am more of a passive multitasker, although I also sometimes have something running in the background (winrar, copying, downloading), but more often the stuff in the background stays still.

As for the RAM - I am currently trying to find out how much RAM the HM55 chipset alllows? 6 or 8 GB ? Could anyone help here?

Hmm interesting statistics indeed! Thanks!

To sum up - whether because of the extra MHz or thanks to the extra 1MB L3 Cache, or most likely both, the i7 620M is in fact 8-9 places ahead, but it seems that all 3 of us think it is not 200 extra euros worth it, right?

The notebook is offered with up to 6GB RAM (1 x 4GB + 1 x 2GB). But I think and the fact that they can put 4GB in 1 slot also prooves it, that it could take up to 8GB. Anyway, as 4GB in 1 piece is currently way overpriced as well it would have to wait 4GB would do for a start I hope

One additional question if any of you has already used an Arrandale notebook - How noisy and power consuming are they?? Arrandale has 35W TDP, whereas Clarksfield has 45W, but my previous laptop running Pentium M had only 21W TDP!

Read review somewhere about an Asus running Arrandale that the battery live is max 3,2 hours and with Clarksfield (4 Core) would last a bit more then 90 minutes...

Would an Arrandale CPU need a constant fan cooling when used for browsing and office applications?

I would be using Windows 7.
Well having multiple disks is surely not an option in a 13" notebook