Is an i7 Quad Core worth the price in a laptop?

[blackbox]

Hi, I was looking at buying a new laptop mainly for casual use, but I want to be able to use it for gaming and light productivity tasks when my desktop computer is not available. 

 

Saying this I'm still in school so I don't have much money to spend, and i was going to get the computer built to order by pcspecialist.co.uk

The difference between the Cpus is £79 (around $135 USD), and it's between an i5 4210M and the i7 4710MQ.

 

I will post the full specs of the computer below, I plan on upgrading the RAM in the future and adding an additional storage drive. (Don't hate on me about battery life etc or the performance of the components below, I have assessed the rest myself and established that they will work for me in this use case and budget)

 

How much difference would you say is there between these CPU's baring in mind that the i5 is just hyper threaded whereas the i7 is true quad core?

 

Full Spec List:

       

Memory (RAM)

4GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)  

Graphics Card

NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 840M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11  

Memory - Hard Disk

240GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W)  

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

2nd/3rd HDD HARD DRIVE OPTICAL BAY CADDY  

Memory Card Reader

Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)  

Thermal Paste

STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING  

Sound Card

Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack  

Bluetooth & Wireless

GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-7260 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH  

USB Options

3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD  

Battery

Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)  

Power Lead & Adaptor

1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor

 

[KamiKatze]

For real gaming on a laptop you should get a i7 but if it's just for casual use and gaming here and ther i'd go for the i5 because it sucks less battery.

[flibberdipper]

I would ditch the V300, if it meant getting the i5. But the i7 is pretty fast (tried one in Best Buy).

[Sauron]

Yes, it makes a big difference and it's worth the extra money. Also make sure you grab 8gb of ram, 4 just aren't enough anymore.

[snoopy6489]

how long do u need the battery to last? or is that not an issue 

[blackbox]

how long do u need the battery to last? or is that not an issue 

The battery life won't be an issue while gaming, but during casual use I would like to be able to get at least 2 hours out of it

 

 

I would ditch the V300, if it meant getting the i5. But the i7 is pretty fast (tried one in Best Buy).

I would keep the SSD either way, The i7 would just be additional money spent. I was considering going for the i5 and getting 8GB of ram straight away, but I thought an i7 would be better as Ram is easier to upgrade, something that I would be doing as soon as I could afford to,

[flibberdipper]

The battery life won't be an issue while gaming, but during casual use I would like to be able to get at least 2 hours out of it

 

 

I would keep the SSD either way, The i7 would just be additional money spent. I was considering going for the i5 and getting 8GB of ram straight away, but I thought an i7 would be better as Ram is easier to upgrade, something that I would be doing as soon as I could afford to,

I do agree with your choice of keeping an SSD, but I would get something better like a Samsung 840 EVO. The V300's are crap now.

[Glenwing]

The i7 quad-cores are a lot more powerful than the dual-cores, but the dual-cores are pretty respectable already.  With an 840M as the GPU, I don't think the CPU will be the limiting factor in games either way.  Getting the dual-core will mean higher battery life and less heat for the system to deal with.

[blackbox]

The i7 quad-cores are a lot more powerful than the dual-cores, but the dual-cores are pretty respectable already.  With an 840M as the GPU, I don't think the CPU will be the limiting factor in games either way.  Getting the dual-core will mean higher battery life and less heat for the system to deal with.

 

I can pay extra to get Arctic MX-4 Thermal paste if you think that thermals will be an issue and if that will help. I have no idea what thermal compound they use if I don't pay for this, but I doubt its anything special.

[Glenwing]

Thermal compound doesn't really matter.  Temps probably won't cause any problems per se, but the cooler the better as a general rule of thumb.  Battery life would be the main trade-off.

[Mojo-Jojo]

For casual use and gaming, I don't think the i7 vs i5 will get you big benefits.

You're much better off getting the i5 and putting the extra money in getting at least 8GiBs of RAM and possibly a better GPU.