i5 540M vs i7 620M for Lenovo t410?

Hi guys, im just wondering how much faster is the i7 in this comparison? Can anyone give me any sort of advice please?

 

My advice would be to stick with the i5 540M (which is more powerful than pretty much any Core 2 Duo out there), unless you have a specific CPU-bottlenecked task that you need the i7 620M for (ie: video encoding).

What will you be using your T410 for?

 

Like MidnightSun said , depending on ur tasks , u can get either one... personally , i would just get the i7-620M which is more powerful especially if ur not planning to upgrade ur laptop for a few years as the extra speed might help out with the more intensive applications in the future...

 

The 620M isn't typically worth the cost of upgrading as it would only yield about 5% or less performance benefit on average compared to the 540M, which isn't really noticeable in a real life situation.

 

I do Java and C# multithreading for my university final year project, real-time stuff.

Im thinking though, if there is negligible difference then in 2-3 years time, both would be pretty 'naff' for any future applications? Unless there was a huge difference (25%+), the i7 wouldn't be any better offer for future apps?

 

Add to that the fact that it seems the i7 does decrease battery life slightly, and I do not think it is worth the upgrade for most users.

 

I agree a 540 would be more than adequate for just about most users and unless you push your CPU to the limit with extensive tasks on a near daily basis, I believe the higher price tag of the 620M doesn't justify it's performance increase for most users.

 

I look at it like this - if the i5-540M can't run something well, then in all likelihood the i7-620M will not be able to either. So, the i7-620M is probably not worth the extra money.

 

This article may prove useful:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Intel-Core-i3-i5-i7-Processors-Arrandale.25085.0.html

In particular, pay attention to the Power Consumption bar graph.

 

PC Mark vantage is also 10% higher though.