i7 8GB vs. i5 16GB

[jbaylon]

I'm curious if anyone has thoughts (or, better yet, user experiences) comparing the i7 and i5 options. Is the i7 notably peppier? Will the graphics performance (for light to mid gaming) be much different? Is it worth caring? Will the i7 version take a battery life hit? My budget restricts me to the i5 16GB version or the i7 8GB version ($90 more than the previous), so I'm also wondering if dropping from 16GB for the i5 to 8GB for the i7 would eliminate some (or most) of the benefits of the i7 performance boost.

 

[John M Beauchemin]

If you don't know whether or not you need 8GB or 16GB, then I promise you, you don't need 16GB. I'm going with the i7 256GB myself as the processing power is absolutely going to be the biggest bang for your buck. I am a digital artist and a gamer and I build my own PC's... you would have to try like crazy to tap out 16GB.

 

[anon(5327127)]

I'm thinking that...

I'll wait until the reviews.

 

[jbaylon]

Hmm. Thanks for the feedback! Would you expect the i7 version to take a hit on battery life? Also, processing power aside, do you know anything about the integrated graphics performance of the i7 (iris, I think it's called...) compared to the i5 (HD520, I think....)?

 

[John M Beauchemin]

Hmm. Thanks for the feedback! Would you expect the i7 version to take a hit on battery life? Also, processing power aside, do you know anything about the integrated graphics performance of the i7 (iris, I think it's called...) compared to the i5 (HD520, I think....)?

It's possible I suppose... I don't know enough about the chips to say but typically if it's clocked faster, it eats battery faster, so there's that. But MS could have compensated somewhere else in the design in order to give both units the same usage rates.

I don't know anything about integrated graphics, no. I'm a desktop guy so I never paid attention to that stuff, but I'm guessing it's basically the same tech just scaled down a smidge. I doubt it's a difference the avg user would notice. I gave serious consideration to the i5 model but at the end of the day I want to be able to draw and ink in photoshop without worrying about pen lag so I went i7. Otherwise, if I was just going to use this for normal computing and media consumption and not actual work, I would have gone with the i5 for a pretty significant cost savings.

 

[Hardcore1973]

The i7 processor will take a very small hit on the battery. But if you want a couple more FPS then do it. You will get about 5-8 more frames with the I7 typically (not tested with new 6th gen processors). 8GB is more then enough for gaming, if you are doing video editing of 4k videos or heavy graphic design then get the 16GB of RAM.

 

[anon(5327127)]

Why can't anyone actually just wait for the review of the i7? Until then we simply do not know.