G46 I5 vs I7?

[Grymm]

I'm in the market for a new laptop. My old Gateway gaming rig is about 5 years old and is finally beginning to give me more problems than I can deal with.

I really love the specs on the G series laptops, and have been leaning toward the 46. My old laptop is 17", and while the screen is a beauty to look at, I'd like something more mobile, and easy use on a lap desk. The G55s are awesome, but probably a bit too heavy. I was hoping to hold out for the I7 version of the G46. However, from what I've read on other threads here, it's probably not coming out anytime soon, and my current rig can barely play my games now.

How big of a difference is there in the I7 vs. the I5 processors? The vast majority of my gaming time is spent on MMOs like GW2 and Rift. Those kind of games tax the processor a bit more from what I understand. My main concern is being able to crank up the graphics a bit and still play with little/no lag.

I've heard that there are other upgrades coming in the I7 version (RAM, screen resolution, wifi). I can upgrade the RAM easily enough, and the screen resolution isn't a huge deal. I plan to purchase a large monitor for the office, so the laptop screen will only be used when I'm mobile. The wifi connection could be a big thing though, if the I5 version has issues there.

Any advice would be very helpful. If the difference in performance between the I5 and I7 versions is likely to be quite big, then I'll try to make my current machine last a bit longer to hold out for that.

Thanks!

[X-ROG]

Well the i7 will be better; you get 2 cores extra and a higher Turbo, but it's not like the i5 will be a slouch and it's 10W lower TDP will benefit your battery life. You cannot upgrade the CPU so bear it in mind before purchase. I'm not sure the difference in those games specifically though, however.

The WIFI in the G46 is the same as G55/G75, except for the latest G75VX which also has the option of .ac, but you'll also need a compatible router as well.

[Myk_SilentShado]

MarshallR@ASUS wrote:
Well the i7 will be better; you get 2 cores extra and a higher Turbo, but it's not like the i5 will be a slouch and it's 10W lower TDP will benefit your battery life. You cannot upgrade the CPU so bear it in mind before purchase. I'm not sure the difference in those games specifically though, however.

The WIFI in the G46 is the same as G55/G75, except for the latest G75VX which also has the option of .ac, but you'll also need a compatible router as well.

According to the video on the Front Page "Videos: Catch up on CES 2013", the G46 has ac

[Zygomorphic]

Myk SilentShadow wrote:
According to the video on the Front Page "Videos: Catch up on CES 2013", the G46 has ac

If it has 802.11ac, that would be really sweet. 😮

[gokica]

MarshallR@ASUS wrote:
The WIFI in the G46 is the same as G55/G75, except for the latest G75VX which also has the option of .ac, but you'll also need a compatible router as well.

Could you please specify what exactly is different on the VX? More specifically what does ".ac" stand for?

Thank you.

Edit: Oh I just noticed in the previous post. Probably you are referring to 802.11ac. My VX is equipped with Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Adapter and AR8151 gigabit ethernet.

[Zygomorphic]

Either should be fine, the i5's of today are really fast, more than enough for most people...even the i3's are really quick. Like @Marshall said, the i7 is faster, but the i5 will help battery life and give you lower temps. I'd say go ahead and get the i5 variant and upgrade the RAM to 8 GB or more. 16 GB is more than enough.

[Pitcher1]

of couse I7 better than I5, but i think it would be looking what is point do you need and conditions to choose satisfaction and suitable computer.

[Grymm]

Thanks to work I've been out of pocket for the last couple of weeks. Thanks to all who replied. I think I'll let me decision be based more on when my current laptop ceases to be useable. Right now, I've been too busy to game anyway, so it hasn't mattered so much. But as real life calms down, I'm going to be ready to purchase the G46. Alienware was my other option. But based on what I've ready about those, and the posts here, the G46 is a much better option (possibly with upgraded RAM on the current version). In the meantime, I'll keep looking for the I7/higher resolution model to see if it's out by the time I'm ready.

[dparish2]

i5 if all you are going to do is strictly game

i7 currently offers hardly any improvement when it comes to gaming... However for media/encoding scenarios, i7 would be 25%-50% better.

[Tomislav]

I have two ASUS notebooks G75vx and K93S. The K93 has i5. GT75 has i7. Overall workflow on an i7 proc. is much better, especialy if you are using laptops for design,video editing and stuff not just for gaming. I would go with i7, you can always upgrade your RAM. It's not so expensive. Thoug if you are going to use your G46 just for gaming i5 is just fine. If battery life is very important to you , buy a ASUS zenbook ;-).