CPU Core i7 3537U vs i5 3337U - laptop spec needed please!

Guys, I may go for Dell XPS 13 MLK ultrabook for database work etc. (Also new Inspiron 7000 coming up tomorrow, may have better specs).
I have option of two CPUs: Core i7 3537U and i5 3337U.
I read their specs so know the "on paper" difference.

Is there a bit difference between those in reality?
Anyone having one of those?

LAPTOP SPEC I'm after:
laptop/ultrabook (I would prefer something not too heavy) CPU power compared to desktop i5 2400.
It must have SSD 256GB, 8GB of RAM and resolution >= 900p (1600x900 and higher).
Price ideally not more than £1K... Ideally Dell, cause they got nice on-site engineer service.

 

The specs on paper are obviously different but in all fairness, they will perform very similarly.

How much of a difference is there in price between the two chips? That would help to see whether it is worth getting the extra bit of grunt or not.

How complex are the databases?

 

Prices are £849 against £899. At this price point it may be worth just to throw in 50 quid I guess...

 

Reality is that you won't notice the difference at all. 200Mhz base clock/turbo clock difference is nothing, they are still both dualcore, 3 vs 4MB cache is again unnoticeable in typical use, 1.1 vs 1.2GHz max GPU clock won't make any difference as the GPU still won't be good for any serious gaming.

 

I agree with the above.

If it were a quad core, a fully fledged i7, then I'd say go for it. It's not though, so I'd say get the i5 and you'll be mighty pleased.

 

Thanks guys.
Right now I work on desktop i5-2400 and want to get laptop cause need to be mobile.
Looks like this i7 should be that much different than desktop i5. I know it has 4 cores but, i7 has 4 threads, right?

Also, how is that turbo boost work? That i7 has 2GHz and boosts to 3.1GHz.

 

it can overclock itself to 3.1ghz when it needs to, turbo boost = dynamic overclocking

i'd save the £50, not worth it. they both do hyper-threading, and specs are almost the same.

if you really want to be anal about CPU speed, you shouldn't really be looking at ultrabooks anyway...

 

It will be a lot less powerfull. Mobile ULV CPU will have performance like desktop i3-2100. maybe even a bit worse.

Technically, you never see the "official clock" of any modern Intel CPU. They are all jumping between 1.6GHz and whatever maximum turbo clock is depending on the load of cores, power used and other factors. So you will reach 3.1GHz with single core load until CPU is too hot or it uses too much power (compared to the limit set for that kind of load).

 

^what faugusztin says

look at passmark to get a vague idea of how different CPUs compare to each other. the site is not really accurate, but it can give you a picture of where a certain CPU stands vaguely

 

Is the i7 going to be quicker? yes [on paper]

Is it enough of a bump to warrant the extra £50... almost certainly not...

Though as others have said, if cpu speed is that important, an ultrabook may not be the best choice...

On paper compared to a desktop CPU, it's sat somewhere between the Haswell-based Pentium G3220 and G3420 performance wise...

 

Well, that puts me off

What I'm after is a laptop/ultrabook (I would prefer something not too heavy) CPU power compared to desktop i5 2400.
It must have SSD 256GB, 8GB of RAM and resolution >= 900p (1600x900 and higher).
Price ideally not more than £1K... Ideally Dell, cause they got nice on-site engineer service.

Do you guys have any laptop in mind that would meet those requirements?

 

One thing to consider is the i7 will have a certain amount of a resale premium over the i5, if you ever came to change it.

And yes your desktop i5 quad will prob run rings around either of those chips.

 

Right, I wonder what would be the difference working on that i7 cpu doing some Access databases, compared to desktop i5. How CPU hungry is MS Access?

I'm running some intense macro in Access now and see 20% CPU usage... from all 4 cores, one goes up, rest stay below 10%...

 

I am no access whiz but from what you are saying a couple of fast cores should be fine for what you are doing.

 

Yeah, you know, this isn't a laptop for running SQL server, just a normal work on MS access.
I noticed that SSD makes huge difference (previously was running regular 7200rpm HDD and queries now on SSD run 5x faster at least!).

So I guess 8GB RAM and SSD will do much more than faster CPU.
That is why I think 2 cores/4 threads should be fine?

 

You can get one of the latitudes with that kind of spec under the grand mark, the 900p screen and SSD options [if they're available at all] tend to bump it over the grand...

Personally i'd probably get one with a mechanical hdd and add the SSD yourself [the price pump for adding an SSD seems pretty steep]

also remember the businiess stuff [Vostro/Precision/Latitude] prices are without VAT

 

Yeah, looks like if I want 900p I don't have much options...

 

I just bought an ASUS Zenbook with the i5 cpu. Certainly not had any problems with it being too slow. I went with the UX32VD, which I then upgraded myself with an additional 8GB ram, 500gb ssd and 1080p screen.

Needless to say, now it is a beast ultrabook.

 

Cool, how is the high res on 13"? not too much?
Also, do you void your warranty by upgrading stuff like ram or hdd?
Dont know if Dell voids it if you swap sth?

 

Tbh I am not sure about the warranty.

With regard to 1080p on a 13" screen, it is awesome. The LED panel is superb, with great viewing angles, color depth and black levels.

I have 20/20 vision though and I can see how some people may find the res a bit high for this size panel.