Help me decide between these two XPS laptops! i5 vs i7

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  mccarthyp64 on 07/05/2017 - 17:14

  I had an i7 XPS 9350 and the Iris 540 didn't help with games. If you had to choose between i7 and i5 13" models, it'd definitely be the i5 since it's cheaper and the overall performance isn't much slower. The XPS 15 has the dedicated GPU which is probably what you're going to want.

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  [Deactivated] on 07/05/2017 - 17:18

  +1

  If you are not doing/planning for the near future, any calculations, heavy multi-tasking, somehow heavy Graphical/Video editing/gaming, and you are on a budget and you have a good PC, then save your money.
  By the way these two look very similar, if you are thinking of an upgrade, think about this XPS 15 for the same price!
  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/321912172979

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  ronnknee on 07/05/2017 - 17:21

  +1

  $400 for an upgrade from i5 to i7 seems like a huge jump. Also the fact that the graphics is still onboard (just a change in model number), there won't be any significant performance improvement.

  • 

    Diji1 on 07/05/2017 - 18:34

    +1

    The Iris 640 is about twice as fast. There is a massive difference for games.

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  blonky on 07/05/2017 - 17:39

  +1

  Both seem to have the low power (U) versions of the i5/i7

  This means both are slower than the desktop versions, only have 2 cores, and the i7 is essentially an i5 with extra L2 cache.

  The Iris graphics in the i7 quite a bit better but it's still integrated so you won't really want to be gaming on it

  Personally I would not pay $400 extra

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  Surrenicity on 07/05/2017 - 18:01

  As someone whos quite ill-informed with GPU's, can someone explain to me this?

  http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp%5B%5D=3696…

  This does look like quite a big boost in performance I'd assume.. or is there something I'm missing?

  • 

    Riczter on 07/05/2017 - 19:46

    Im just making up random numbers here, but to give you a better idea, the 620 may have a benchmark score of say 1000, and the 640 a score of say 2000. Fantastic, you can say thats a huge increase, twice as fast…. But when the AAA title you want to play requires a score of 12,000 to 15,000 in order to get 1080p at 30fps or 60 fps or whatever you consider to be "playable", then all of a sudden that big jump from 1000 to 2000 is very insignificant.

    It all comes down to the games you are going to play, but as a rule of thumb, integrated graphics are no good for demanding AAA titles.

    To answer your question I would go with the i5 unless you have very specific high processor performance requirements, because for day to day use I would say the minor increase in performance plus the minor increase in GPU power is not worth the $400 premium. I would pay a max $200 - $250 extra for the i7 model.

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  KitchenSink on 07/05/2017 - 18:10

  Go with the i5 model. The Intel HD 620 is capable of playing LoL and CSGO on low/medium settings as you can see here and here. But if you're looking at AAA titles forget it. Either go for the 15" XPS with the dedicated GPU or another laptop with a GPU such as GTX1050/1050ti/1060

  A $400 difference is too much for little CPU upgrade with faster integrated GPU.

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  Fiximol on 07/05/2017 - 22:53

  For 1699 you can get a gigabyte p34g at the it seller of your choice. It has a quad core i7 (not the low voltage ones like xps13) 1050 2gb card and weighs 1.7kg. Probably much more suitable for what you have proposed.

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  DevD on 29/03/2023 - 15:08

  which one did you go with