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!

[Zygomorphic]

Tomislav wrote:
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 ;-).

Yup, that's what I've seen in all the benchmarks. Core i5 is adequate for gaming, since most games aren't heavily multithreaded. Core i7 is better for video, because of the two extra processing cores and the increase in L3 cache. In this case, if you plan on doing anything besides gaming, get the i7, since it too has good power management. I get 3.5 hours out of my G53SX (i7-2630QM) with 560M enabled (not gaming) no Wi-Fi, and screen dimmed as far as it will go. As you said, if you need more battery life, get something else.

[AlexTheRepublic]

Basically if you are a perfectionist and want the best of the best get the i7. If you like more than casual gaming, improved battery life and low temps, get i5 so yeah it's your choise. I'd chose the i7. Hehe :D!

[Zygomorphic]

AlexTheRepublican wrote:
Basically if you are a perfectionist and want the best of the best get the i7. If you like more than casual gaming, improved battery life and low temps, get i5 so yeah it's your choise. I'd chose the i7. Hehe :D!

Given the choice, I'd take the i7, since they both down-clock to about the same, and the Ivy Bridge chips can completely shut off unused cores. Also, the extra power for me is a bonus. 🙂

[ashue]

Hi Grymm,

It really depends how you will use your machine and it really depends on what you really want to do with it.
i5 will perform enough to fulfill your needs but if the price with i7 is not that far then why not go with it as you will get more out of your money.
You can also read some stuffs if you like.
Best of luck in purchasing and be sure to have fun with your machine. 🙂

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/processors/core-i5-vs-core-i7-which-is-best-for-y...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/685996-i5-3210m-vs-i7-3517u.html

[be77solo]

Curious, is there any actual reason the cpu on the g46 currently available isn't upgradeable? Its my understanding there are already resellers doing this. Granted it requires disassembly of the machine and is not Asus approved. The HDD is also said to be non upgradeable and I've swapped that for a SSD without issue. I was planning at some point down the road if the i5 ever became an issue to swap in a cheap used i7. Any reason that wouldn't be in option other than it requires removing the motherboard?

Thanks for the info!

EDIT: Pulled everything apart this afternoon to install a mSata drive, and I don't see any issues with replacing the CPU.... it does require removal of the motherboard, but is a socket CPU just like all others physically, I have to assume the BIOS would recognize an i7?

[Zygomorphic]

My guess is that it would, and if you are willing to order an i7 (45 Watt [non-XM]) and stick it in, that would be really, really cool. Then we would know how much we could upgrade this system on our own.

[be77solo]

Zygomorphic wrote:
My guess is that it would, and if you are willing to order an i7 (45 Watt [non-XM]) and stick it in, that would be really, really cool. Then we would know how much we could upgrade this system on our own.

I'll keep you posted, I picked up a used OEM i7 3610qm for a good price that I'm going to install. Hopefully it will be detected properly. The cpu should arrive sometime next week.

The i5 performs great but I do use a few programs that benefit from quad cores so figure that should be a decent improvement for cheap and an afternoons disassembly.

[Zygomorphic]

be77solo wrote:
I'll keep you posted, I picked up a used OEM i7 3610qm for a good price that I'm going to install. Hopefully it will be detected properly. The cpu should arrive sometime next week.

The i5 performs great but I do use a few programs that benefit from quad cores so figure that should be a decent improvement for cheap and an afternoons disassembly.

Sounds like fun! 🙂 If it works, that's great! You may want to buy some thermal grease to re-do the grease job on the new CPU. Arctic Diamond is good and not terribly expensive (you won't need a lot).

[be77solo]

Zygomorphic wrote:
Sounds like fun! 🙂 If it works, that's great! You may want to buy some thermal grease to re-do the grease job on the new CPU. Arctic Diamond is good and not terribly expensive (you won't need a lot).

Reporting back, got the new i7 3630qm installed a few days ago and machine is running great. Originally had ordered a 3610 but that sale fell apart, and then found a great deal on the 3630. Installation is as expected and straight forward. Used some IC paste I had leftover from a previous upgrade, temps are idling in the 38-42c and maxing 78-80c across all cores after stress testing. Amazingly, the fans still run as quiet as stock (I love the cooling they used here!) Loud laptops drive me NUTS and is a huge reason I enjoy the G series so much.

So, yes for those curious, upgrades down the road aren't a problem 🙂

[e3zkiel]

be77solo wrote:
Reporting back, got the new i7 3630qm installed a few days ago and machine is running great. Originally had ordered a 3610 but that sale fell apart, and then found a great deal on the 3630.

May I ask where you were able to get your hands on the i7 3630QM? I tried doing a quick Google search to see if it's readily available for purchase and could not find anything. Thanks for your help! 🙂