Is the New Inspiron 14" with an i7-1255U good enough for everyday use and photo editing OR should I go for a Vostro 13" with an i7-1260P instead?

[litetaker]

Howdy all! I am looking forward to buying a new 12th gen Intel laptop from Dell as my current laptop from Asus is getting quite old and slow and overheating as well. I finalised my decision to two different models: (1) the new Inspiron 14" model with the i7-1255U, or (2) the Vostro 5320 (13") model with the i7-1260P processor. My use case is just a everyday laptop for browsing the web, watching some YouTube, streaming some Netflix, and occasional photo editing in Lightroom. My current laptop is an Asus Zenbook Pro with an Intel i7-6700HQ for reference. Will the Inspiron model with a lower power CPU (i7-1255U) be sufficient for my usage or should I go for the more performance oriented CPU (i7-1260P) in the Vostro instead?

 

My requirements are a decently powerful laptop that is very light as well. In this regard, I love the Vostro as it is saying it is just 1.25kg in weight, but the downside is it has very few ports, and is also very expensive at around £1043. Whereas the Inspiron is a bit heavier at 1.55kg, but has many more ports that are very useful to me, and much cheaper at around £800. But of course, the Inspiron has the i7-1255U and the Vostro has the i7-1260P instead. Also, if I go for the Inspiron, then I can upgrade the RAM and storage by myself right? Which is why I am thinking of going for the 8 GB RAM model, so that I can upgrade the RAM for cheaper by myself rather than pay the extra £100 premium for the additional RAM which is too much!

 

What are your thoughts? Please let me know! Thank you!

[Darkseth]

get the lower one, check specs: https://www.cpu-monkey.com/de/compare_cpu-intel_core_i7_1260p-vs-intel_core_i7_1255u

Turbo-Clocks are similar. Base Clock is lower, but base clock is irrelevant.  1 Core can boost up to 4,7 Ghz, and all Cores can go up to 3.4 Ghz instead 3.5 ghz.

 

PL2 TDP is 55w over 64w, but that doesn't matter, as the Manufacturer can configure it however they want.

 

But here's the deal: Everyday "snappyness" is more single Core Burst. Both should deliver a very very similar experience.

Like, how fast an App opens, how fast it is with switching between Apps.

 

The P-series has 12 Cores instead of 10. Meaning: All will have 8 E-Cores.

But the P series has 4 P-Cores, while the U series has only 2 P-Cores.

Still, it has 2 Cores with 4 Threads that are strong for snappy Single Core workloads, and 8 E-Cores to boost Multicore Performance.

But it's a reason to take the P-series.

 

Keep in Mind: Vostro is only 13,3" with a brighter 300 nit Screen. Inspiron is 14" with 250 nits.

 

My personal recommendation: Fuck the i7. Both of them. Take the i5, and save Money for the identical Processor pretty much. i5 with 10 Cores vs. i7 with 10 Cores, always prefer the i5.It's essentially the same Chip, just slightly less boost Clocks (4,4 ghz instead 4,7 Ghz or something like that), and thanks to that also lower overall Voltage.

The i7 usually gets hotter, and throttles faster/stronger.

In some cases, the i5 beats the i7 in Multicore Benchmarks, because the i7 throttles below the i5 clock speeds.

 

Having "just" the i5 (but with the same Core Count!!) you won't notice a difference in everyday usage. But you might get a more quiet System and longer batterylife.

 

Exception: You need maximum Performance for some reason, because time = Money.

 

If your only difference is P vs. U... I'd probably take the P-Model, because of more Cores. But the i5. Saves money and batterylife.

 

Edit 2: As someone, who used a T480s with i7 and now T14 G2 with i7. I don't like i7. The T14 even when under battery and "better Battery" setting, the Fans run fulltime almost when doing nothing.
These i7 can really be aggressive with voltage and clock speeds, if you don't constrain them.

[litetaker]

Thanks for the reply @Darkseth. Indeed the i5-1235U appears to be very similar to the i7-1255U, same number of cores but at a lower boost clock. However, it seems that the i7 also has more execution units in its integrated graphics, which may make a bit of a difference. I will think about it and see if it is worth saving £100 on the i5 instead of the i7.

[Darkseth]

Yes, i7 often has a bit stronger IGP.

If you want light Gaming, it makes a difference, otherwise very rarely.

Not sure, if you can use iGPU acceleration for Photoediting, but i believe CPU is more important here and Ram.

[litetaker]

2 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

Yes, i7 often has a bit stronger IGP.

If you want light Gaming, it makes a difference, otherwise very rarely.

Not sure, if you can use iGPU acceleration for Photoediting, but i believe CPU is more important here and Ram.

Would the U processor be efficient enough for the i7 to run fairly cool and quiet? Perhaps as it is a U series processor, it won't run so aggressively and so hot and loud as the i7 laptops you experienced. Also, do you have any insight into the difference between Dell's English International keyboard layout vs the UK/Irish keyboard layout? I generally prefer the enter key of the US layout which is short and wide rather than tall and narrow. But I cannot tell for sure what these keyboards look like as there is no pictures to compare them.

[litetaker]

9 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

Yes, i7 often has a bit stronger IGP.

If you want light Gaming, it makes a difference, otherwise very rarely.

Not sure, if you can use iGPU acceleration for Photoediting, but i believe CPU is more important here and Ram.

I won't be doing any gaming on my laptop, I've not done PC gaming in a long time. I play on my PS5 and Nintendo Switch. GPU acceleration in Lightroom seems to be buggy/hit-and-miss, so perhaps having the more powerful GPU may not be all that worth it, if at all. Anyway, an iGPU probably does not make much of a difference.

 

So, given that, would it be better to buy the i5 laptop instead? Would I notice any difference at all in terms of performance using the i5 vs the i7, given its slightly lower core clocks? It looks like, for all practical purposes, the i5 is the same CPU as the i7 but at a lower core clock, and fewer iGPU execution units. So, if everyday performance is the same or difference is not noticable (or heck even better on the i5!) then perhaps I should go for the i5 instead, and save some money and also potentially get some better battery life. If so, I would consider going for the Inspiron 14 with the i5-1235U, rather than the Vostro with the P processor, as it is much cheaper and has better ports.

[Darkseth]

Well, that's only MY personal opinion about i5 vs. i7, and due to some i7 experiences in 2 Laptops. And i personally like good efficiency and don't need the last % Performance.

I personally would not pay extra for the i7, if it only brings higher Clock speeds, but not more cores.

If it's i5 10-Core vs. i7 12-Core, it would be a different Story.

 

That i5 beats i7 thing was from this Video:

It's NOT the norm, but it can happen. In this Case, both CPUs are capped at 20 Watt. i7 has moire voltage, so it consumes more Power per Clocks, and throttles below the i5.

 

In most cases, the i7 should hit a few % higher Benchmark numbers. But those 5% more or less.. 

 

Maybe there are a few Cases, where you could notice the i7's "few % faster". But i don't believe, it will make or break a experience. If the i5 is too slow at some point, the i7 will be too.