XPS 15 question

[Bzdougie]

Going to electrical engineering school and was wanting to know the pros and cons of two different models. 

7300hq, 256 ssd, 8gb ram

vs

7700hq, 512 ssd, 16 gb ram

 

could I get away with the i5 and still have a good machine or is the i7 the only way to go?

[Enderman]

If you can afford it just get the i7 and more ram so you don't need to question yourself in the future.

The i5 and i7 both have the same number of cores and threads, it's just that the i7 is clocked higher.

The i5 model is probably enough, but for cad the more ram will help.

[Bzdougie]

3 hours ago, Enderman said:

If you can afford it just get the i7 and more ram so you don't need to question yourself in the future.

The i5 and i7 both have the same number of cores and threads, it's just that the i7 is clocked higher.

The i5 model is probably enough, but for cad the more ram will help.

How much am I future proofing myself? Why not just i5 with 8gb ram and upgrade ram later?