T420 i5 2520m vs i7 2640m

[zahirw]

I'm a long time user of the Thinkpad and I'm looking to upgrade my T60 to the T420 over the next few days. The i7 is a faster processor but does the performance justify the cost difference between the 2?

The Core i5 is 2.5ghz w/ 3.0ghz turbo & the i7 is 2.8ghz w/ 3.5ghz turbo. Both dual cores.

I basically use my laptop as an all our workhorse. Mails, tons of browsing, streaming video & most importantly, Photoshop with 300dpi files.

Appreciate the inputs.

Thanks

[wolfman]

Welcome to the forum. I have a T420 and, after researching this about a week, I voted with my pocket book for the Core i5-2520M. I use the machine as my main home computer, but do tons of real work on it, mostly software development utilizing a number of virtual machines with heavy weight server software installed. The 2520M does not disappoint.

At the time I purchased my T420, the upgrade to the 2640M was $180 or so. It just wasn't worth the difference. Now if you are buying on the outlet you can get some great deals and sometimes they have Core i7 machines for less than Core i5 machines. Then I'd spring for the faster chip. But I would not hesitate to buy the 2520M again.

If you pair the 2520M with a nice SSD, I'd bet you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between it and the Core i7 with SSD. Good luck.

[zahirw]

Thanks for your reply & the welcome

Great, so should the i7 be significantly faster, marginally faster or pretty much the same? I noticed the benchmark @ 3611 for i5 & 4042 for i7.

My corncern is lag while working on photoshop with havy files.

[catalinus]

Thanks for your reply & the welcome

Great, so should the i7 be significantly faster, marginally faster or pretty much the same? I noticed the benchmark @ 3611 for i5 & 4042 for i7.

My corncern is lag while working on photoshop with havy files.

I would dare saying that "pretty much the same" - RAM is probably the very first factor (and using a well-optimized 64-bit version of the program - I do not know if that exists), and then eventually using a good SSD.

[bill bolton]

Great, so should the i7 be significantly faster, marginally faster or pretty much the same

Marginally faster.... for the sort of use you mentioned, it would probably only be a benefit in Photoshop.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[zahirw]

Got the i5 3210m t430. Brilliant machine!