i3 4010u (with gt 840m) vs i5 4210u (with hd 4400)

[thenuclearsquid]

Hi I was unsure which laptop I would be better to buy. I'd plan on using it for general purposes (email, web browsing, etc.) as well as possibly casual gaming and CAD. The two laptops I found are basically the same apart from graphics and processor.
The first has an i3 4010u with a Nvidia gt 840M.
The second has an i5 4210u with Intel HD 4400.
I know that the i3 is slower than the i5 but would the difference in processing power or the difference in graphics power be the biggest factor affecting the laptop's performance? Which laptop should I choose?
Thanks

 

[Ambyjkl]

U series i3 is a bottleneck in performance. You can run most casual games fine using medium to high settings on intel hd 4400 itself (I use the exact same i5 4210u and Intel HD 4000) on a low resolution like 1366 x 768. You must set the power settings to high performance and it will work just as fine. Always remember that the processor matters more. Go with the i5 option. But even better, if price is an issue, you can go with an AMD processor with a good graphics card (equivalent to 840M), as Amd is a lot cheaper than Intel. You may get a processor as good as the i5 (almost) but with much better graphics. I once saw a $599 AMD laptop almost as good as a $799 Intel laptop in terms of specs. But still, ask as many people as possible before you make a choice.