i7 vs. i5 Looking at both

[Telstar1948]

Has anyone heard anything about the i7 running hotter, throttling etc than the i5? I'm assuming the i7 will handle more and has a better integrated GPU than the i5. I'm looking at both (8/256) for a possible purchase. Aside from the $200 difference, what do you folks think regarding the i7 instead of the i5?

 

[GreyFox7]

AFAIK nobody has seen an SP4 i7 or an i7-6650U for that matter. It must be so fast nobody can see it.

 

[Telstar1948]

Sorry, I was talking about the Surface Book

 

[ikjadoon]

I'm waiting for Anandtech's review. I hope it will give some insight.

Not the Surface Book, but here's an look at Haswell i5 vs i7 in MacBook Air: The 2013 MacBook Air: Core i5-4250U vs. Core i7-4650U

 

[mcsenerd]

Ditto on the Anandtech bit... I'd reckon that the delta between the i7 and i5 might be wider this time around with some of the efficiency improvements. I think the SP3 was so challenged thermally that there didn't end up being that much delta last time around. I think there might be a bit more headroom in the i7 skylake version.

 

[Talldog]

A couple of things to consider. First, the i7 on the SB doesn't come with Iris graphics like the SP4. It uses the HD 530, vs. HD 520 for the i5. Not that much of a difference.

The bigger issue (for me anyway) is if clipboard mode is important to you. I read in at least a couple of different reviews that the i7 gets about a half hour less battery life than the i5 when detached. Given that clipboard mode is already battery life challenged, that was the deciding factor for me. Of course, if clipboard mode isn't important and the extra money isn't important, I'd get the i7, just because.

 

[sharpuser]

I have the i7/512 and use the Clipboard often. Battery life is good for me. Sometimes I am away from the keyboard unit for 3 to 4 hours, and the Clipboard has not drained out yet, but I've been close. The Surface Book does not run hot, but the i7 is one "hot" machine.

 

[flar]

The i7 in the SB uses HD 520 graphics, confirmed on my own i7 SB...

 

[mcsenerd]

It's tough between the two procs IMHO. I mean, there's really only a smidgin of a difference there... a little bit faster in both base clock and max clock, 1 more MB of cache, and an almost imperceptibly faster graphics memory... Other than that...they're practically the same procs. If they had offered a choice of an i5/dGPU/16GB/256GB I would have hopped all over that...

 

[Telstar1948]

The i7 in the SB uses HD 520 graphics, confirmed on my own i7 SB...

Thanks for the info.

Does anyone know, perhaps from checking your own i5 SB, what integrated graphics is used with the i5?

 

[GreyFox7]

Thanks for the info.

Does anyone know, perhaps from checking your own i5 SB, what integrated graphics is used with the i5?

the i5 has HD 520 also, and the m3 has HD 515.

 

[Telstar1948]

the i5 has HD 520 also, and the m3 has HD 515.

Thank you! Well, it appears that the i7 in the SB only has the fact that it's an i7 going for it. I think for upper end users the i7 would offer some usable benefit, but it sounds like the i5 will be more than capable enough for the majority of users - at least that's my take from all this. Thanks again for everyone's input.