i7 benchmarks & tests
- Thread starter bluegrass
- Start date
yes. but x.264 is not using the gpu.
typo, corrected.
at this point, my conclusion is, if you need SP3, go with i5. i7 is a waste.
Did that but then had to use whiteout on the screen where I wrote
supervelous
Member
Curious as to what makes it a waste. Sorry, not being sarcastic, just not as computer literate as some others here. Do you mean the i5 performs better than the i7, or that the i7 performs better but by such a small amount that it's not worth the price difference? Or are there other factors like does the i5 last longer on battery?
I say this because I know the i5 256GB I had was powerful enough for my needs, but I upgraded to an i7 because for me the price difference was about $125 total, rather than the usual $250 + tax. I plan on going back to school in January, so jumped on the 15% off coupon at Staples..also want to learn some more advanced computing, was talking to my cousin about running VM's and learning coding earlier today. Figured for the small price increase, might as well, plus just won $5,000 in a contest.
So, can you elaborate on saying i7 is a waste? Genuinely curious.
I pre-ordered i5 first, then read some review and replaced the order with i7, which I'm having now, so I can't benchmark sp3 i5 and i7 model side by side. but from what I have run, 3dmarks and handbrake, i7 performed worse than i5 in 3dmarks (i5 scores published on some websites), and from the result I got it's reasonable to assume sp2 i5 would outperform sp3 i7, and sp3 i5 has a chance to beat i7 too.
I think for what you can do with sp3 i7, you really don't need an i7. The things you can't do with sp3 i5, you can't do on i7 either.
I don't know what type of deal you got. I had a microsoft store coupon plus discover card (5+1)% cashback, doesn't matter what model I bought it's the same deal.
supervelous
Member
I got 15% off at Staples, 6% cash back on my credit card (Chase Ink Bold), and 5% in Staples Rewards. Also, for many people who bought at Staples, no tax was charged on the i7 model, so it had additional savings there, and no it's not tax free weekend in my state so it wasn't that. So $1,316.65 out the door for i7, 6% cash back on Credit card, 5% Staples Rewards. I think my final is like $1,230 with $65 in Staples Rewards to use. I think my all-in price with same discounts on i5 was $1,103. I did all the math on a spreadsheet, and the difference total was like $125 so I upgraded.
Not same deal no matter what model, because Staples not charging tax was only on i7 as far as everything I saw and read on it, seems like a glitch on their side. Also, any discounts, cash back lower price difference between 2 configurations since higher MSRP gets higher discounts, cash back.
TL
R.- I don't need i7 for my current use cases, and would not have upgraded if difference was $200-250. For $125 total price difference, since Staples wasn't charging tax on i7 model preorders last week, I upgraded.megatronium
Active Member
Thanks! The thinkpad is using a different class chip than the SP3 - M vs. U. It's also clocked 1GHZ faster than the SP3. Seems an odd comparison unless you're talking price. Different strokes for different folks. I'm a digital artist so the SP3 is great for my needs. I'm going to keep my i7. Good luck!
I completely agree with your summary in this post. I can also vouch that the SP2 i5 IS faster than the SP3 i7 in heavy usage.
Basically, the i7 is pointless, not sure why Microsoft even bothered except for marketing purposes and to meet the buyers that simply will pay more for a higher "spec" machine.
This is based on having owned a SP1, SP2, SP3 i5 and SP3i7 side by side.
Having said that, I'll probably keep the i7 anyhow ha, as like mentioned elsewhere, I'd just blow the difference on something else
Plus, the i7 will be easier to sell in 6 months when the Broadwell update arrives that is actually faster 
jollywombat
Member
Just posting my Intel XTU Benchmark from a SP2 with the 4300 i5 chip for comparison. Ambient room temp ~76f right now.
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