Solved! I7-720QM + 230M v P7550 + 4650 - HP

[mrmark27]

Hello All,

Been doing some research and I think im going to go with a new 15.6" HP Notebook. After messing around with their online config, ive come up with 2 systems who have comparable specs with the only differences being the cpu and gpu. Which combo between the i7-720QM + 230M and the P7550 + 4650 would be better? I plan on doing some minor gaming with this machine but when I do, it would be with current games(MW2, Batman Arkham, etc) as well as watching movies and surfing the internet. I dont need the gaming to be super high settings everything, I have my desktop for that but want to be able to do gaming on medium settings. The other biggy for me would be watching movies and using the HDMI output to watch them on our 52" and 40" HDTV with that "true HD" pop in the picture.

Based on these, would I be better off with the quad core but slightly lessor gpu, or dual core but better gpu?

Thanks for your help!

 

[pepperman]

The dual core solution would give you slightly longer battery life and better performance in games, but the i7 would be more powerful in multi-threaded programs. Considering what you want to do, personally I would go with the dual core.

 

[Maziar]

+1^
Since you will be most doing gaming and not so much CPU intensive games then i would choose the P7550 + 4650 because 4650 is better than GT 230M

 

[VistaVendetta]

The first system with the i7 seems better the P7550 just isn't very strong.

 

[pepperman]

^Keep in mind the i7 only runs at 1.6 GHz where the dual core runs at 2.26 GHz. It's true that the i7 has more IPC's (instructions per clock) than the core 2 architecture but not 41 % more (at least in most applications) so its safe to say the core 2 will provide better performance in single and dual threaded apps, but the i7 gives you 4 cores (which you'll probably never use on a laptop).

 

[VistaVendetta]

Just in case you didn't know the special thing about an i7 is that it performs very well in single or dual threaded apps. This is because it has something called turbo boost which overclocks the processor when it's only using one or two of it's cores. The i7 720qm can be overclocked as high as 2.8GHz so it will outperform almost any dual core.

 

[mrmark27]

Just in case you didn't know the special thing about an i7 is that it performs very well in single or dual threaded apps. This is because it has something called turbo boost which overclocks the processor when it's only using one or two of it's cores. The i7 720qm can be overclocked as high as 2.8GHz so it will outperform almost any dual core.

When you say it can be overclocked, do you mean OC'ing like with a desktop cpu or just that it the turbo technology will overclock it automatically? I tried oc'ing once and fried my system, not sure ill be giving it another shot anytime soon.

 

[pepperman]

Not in an HP notebook it can't be OC'ed. He also said he'd be doing gaming; he doesn't want to game on a high-powered cpu that's limited by its gpu. Here's a recent benchmark of two systems; one with an i7 920XM (2 GHz variant of the cpu he's looking at) and the other with a Q9300 (2.53 GHz quad core) with the rest of the system (gpu mainly) the same. Looking at the gaming section, the core 2 quad manages to keep up with the i7 (it never trials by more than 20% but when it does the frames are well above 60 anyway). The clock difference here is 26.5%, and the gpu is the same.
Now back to our friend here; the core 2 has more than a 40% clockspeed lead, in addition to more powerful graphics. The choice should be obvious.

 

[pepperman]

mrmark27 don't worry, you can't OC anyway; your bios will be locked (you probably wouldn't want to OC on a laptop anyway, the cpu already runs hot).

 

[mrmark27]

pepperman, I think this is what vistavendetta is refering to. that the i7's can shut down cores when not in use to bump up the performance in the active core(s)

http/www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3647&p=2

 

[mrmark27]

2 other questions that i've thought of since my original post.

1- how do the 5400 rpm hd's compare to the 7200 rpm hd's? looking at some benchmarks, they dont seem to be that far off. Is the lesser power consumption and heat of the 5400's worth the tradeoff in speed you get from the 7200?

2- on the HP config, under battery options they list the standard 6-cell, long life battery, and high capacity 6-cell. does anyone know if there is any difference between the 3 batteries or just a way for HP to get some extra $$$?

 

[pepperman]

^Yes, but it will only go up to 2.8 GHz with single threads; 2 threads should be somewhere around 2.4 GHz (the review I posted has the cpu with turboboost enabled, so the percentages still stand). This still doesn't alleviate the gpu discrepancy, as putting an overpowered cpu with a mediocre gpu won't yield as good of performance as putting a mid-range cpu with a higher-end gpu. Plus, the core 2 laptop will be more than twice as long as the i7 (also seen in the review I posted).

 

[VistaVendetta]

Well if you look on the HP website when you're customizing it has a link called "help me decide." But I personally would go with the Long Life battery because it has a 3 year warranty.

 

[pepperman]

The 7200's do give a little speed boost, but most of the time its not worth the money (the wear and tear shouldn't be much more though, most laptop HDD's are rated at 2.5 Watts, including the 7200's).

Some batteries are designed to last longer than others; some do it by increasing the number of cells, some by increasing the cells' size. Either way can be just as effective, depending of course on how it is done, but you will likely have a price premium accompanied with a better battery; if you plan on using the battery a lot, it might be worth the upgrade.

 

[VistaVendetta]

mrmark27 I was just wondering can you tell me your price range so I can better assess the possibilities.

 

[pepperman]

^Agreed, we might be able to make a compromise with a core i7 mobile and decent graphics.

 

[mrmark27]

I was hoping to keep the max at around 1k which is part of why I was looking at the HP configs, they have had a number of coupons listed recently. I was able to put together configs with either the i7/230M and p7550/4650 at 900-950 with a 500gb hd, high capacity battery, and wireless n.

I was also looking at the Dell Studios' bc they have the 1920 HD screens, but in order to put something together in a similar price range I would need to make some decent sacrifices that I dont think the better screen would be worth for me.

 

[mrmark27]

I had also considered this ASUS, although it has a smaller/slower hard drive, lower cpu, and DDR2 ram vs DDR3. Also not sure on ASUS quality, I know that they are known for their motherboards and been making them for years but wasn't sure on their reliability in terms of the full system build

 

[VistaVendetta]

Well that helps. Anyway if you aren't worried about sacrificing a little processor power and a little hard drive rpm there are plenty of gaming laptops with P8700 CPUs and GTX 260m. I think BestBuy has some going for about 1k. pepperman what do you think?

 

[pepperman]

^link please