Difference between i3 and i5?

[Benac]

hey guys,
found this forum while i was searching for some answers. i think i found the right place. anyway my computer crashed out couple days ago and i'm in a need of a laptop as soon as possible. i've been checking out various websites but as i'm running low on cash rite now i cant afford a really good one. all i see on my budget are laptops with i3 processor, 6gb ram and 500 gb hard drive.

i just found out a laptop(refurbished) with i5-2450M processor that "Features a 3MB L3 cache and 2.5GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz", 4 GB Ram(i can upgrade to 8 GB) and 500 GB hard drive. i'm not that much into gaming, although i would love to play FIFA. i'm not sure if this machine runs fifa 13 smoothly but even if it doesn't its not a deal breaker. all i want is my work should go smoothly. i will need photoshop and dreamweaver to run smoothly. i'm not a web designer but i've some other stuffs going on at photoshop.

i've seen other laptops in the same price range running on i3-2370 processor(2.4ghz). i was just curious if it would be better to buy the one with i5 processor or i3. especially since its a refurbished item. which one should i buy? would there be any problem with the refurbished one?

[Domestic_Ginger]

In answer to your opening question; http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-...st.2436.0.html was a comprehensive list. compare number of cores etc based on what the programs like. I'm not sure those program are very that taxing(maybe worth finding out?) but I don't use either.

[Terbinator]

Core i3's don't have Turbo Boost where as the i5's do.

i3's tend to have less cores as well but have the addition of Hyper-Threading.

[technodean]

Only difference I can see is that the I5 turbo's up. Both according to intel have 4 threads.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you are gaming also look at the GPU included in the system! The HD3000 IGP is OK,but the HD4000 and AMD IGPs are faster.

[CrazyMonkey]

For the money these days I'd go for an i5 hands down. Terbinator pretty much hits it on the nail.

[Benac]

If you are gaming also look at the GPU included in the system! The HD3000 IGP is OK,but the HD4000 and AMD IGPs are faster.

i just checked on this hd3000 graphics and turns out nfs shift is still unplayable. i used to play nfs in my old computer lol. but gaming experience seems to be just okay. not so good!! maybe its an old review but they say fifa 11 will run smoothly. is there a possibility that i could add a graphics card later on if i'm not satisfied with the performance?


EDIT: they also said some games will run smoothly in lower resolution. what difference does it make?