Buying new ULV or old full-steam processor

K

klezmer41

n00b
Joined
May 21, 2010
Messages
26
In terms of speed, would it be better to go with a current ULV such as the i7-3667U, or an older full-power mobile processor such as the i5-520M?
 
Not sure what the point of a question like this is?

Newer gen will have better battery life and equal/higher performance than older gen.
 
I'm wondering if the fact that something is ULV, if it really impacts performance compared to older "regular" processors such as the i5 M series... or even current regular processors. I'm trying to figure out if I should buy a new ULV notebook, or go with older technology to gain performance and save money. Question really is would I be gaining performance?
 
If you're looking at saving money and gaming on a laptop, you're in the wrong place. You should be looking at AMD Llano or Trinity-based laptops.

Edit: also, ULVs are not cheap. They're almost as expensive as the high performance chips.
 
ULV's are only really found in ultrabooks, so if portability is a main concern then that's a good choice. If you want CPU performance and don't mind extra weight and size then go for a laptop with a higher TDP processor. But not the i5 520M though, that's 2 generations old already.

What you really need to ask yourself is what form factor of a laptop you want and going from there.
 
Portability is important, but so is general CPU/memory/hard-drive performance... but only for work such as Adobe stuff. I don't need to game on my notebook. Would a brand new ULV be a better choice for heavy Photoshop use, compared to the older i5?
 
klezmer41 said:
Portability is important, but so is general CPU/memory/hard-drive performance... but only for work such as Adobe stuff. I don't need to game on my notebook. Would a brand new ULV be a better choice for heavy Photoshop use, compared to the older i5?
Click to expand...

Why is the older i5 an option and not a newer i5?

The ULVs are 17W TDP and have trouble sustaining their clock speed for lengthy periods. It'll fluctuate. In general, an i5 will offer about the performance of an i3 35W non-ULV, but that would apply for Sandy and Ivy.
 
As said, why do you keep going back to an older i5?
 
I like some of the older notebook designs... the new ones not so much. I also like saving money, so if an older i5 or i7 is much faster than a ULV, I'd opt to go in that direction. If a new ULV could handle some heavy work (Adobe stuff, etc) with no sweat, then that would be an option. I would totally go for a new i5 or i7 if I could find a current notebook that I like, but all the new ones I like seem to have ULV procs.
 
klezmer41 said:
I like some of the older notebook designs... the new ones not so much. I also like saving money, so if an older i5 or i7 is much faster than a ULV, I'd opt to go in that direction. If a new ULV could handle some heavy work (Adobe stuff, etc) with no sweat, then that would be an option. I would totally go for a new i5 or i7 if I could find a current notebook that I like, but all the new ones I like seem to have ULV procs.
Click to expand...

Buy a Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge 35W laptop. There's about a billion of them out there, just pick one you like. They're lower in price than the Ultrabooks and they offer far better processing power and equal, and often better, battery life.
 
klezmer41 said:
I like some of the older notebook designs... the new ones not so much. I also like saving money, so if an older i5 or i7 is much faster than a ULV, I'd opt to go in that direction. If a new ULV could handle some heavy work (Adobe stuff, etc) with no sweat, then that would be an option. I would totally go for a new i5 or i7 if I could find a current notebook that I like, but all the new ones I like seem to have ULV procs.
Click to expand...

So basically, you're saying you'll pay more for less performance because it looks nicer?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top