Intel i5 or i7 chip...huge difference?

Depends the chip.
Some high grade i5s can out perform low grade i7s.
Do you have specifics on what chips you are looking at?

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Intel i7 dual core 2.8 GHz 640M
Intel i5 dual core 2.67 GHz 560M

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I could be wrong, but I believe the primary difference is that the i7 enables hyperthreading. If what you plan to use the PC for is not made better with hyperthreading, then the i5 would be more than sufficient.

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laptop will basically only be used for minor word processing and Internet surfing and possibly Netflix.

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That's a pretty light work load. Do you need this laptop to be portable, in which case which chip is better for battery life?

Then it sounds like he should follow the "get the most power you can afford" rule.

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quote: Then it sounds like he should follow the "get the most power you can afford" rule. Not if the power will never be used. This isn't even a matter of future-proofing either. Both of the chips he named are over 4 years old.

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What's the newest next big thing in the chip department?

(no message)

I need to stop opening threads and responding in them 11 hours later without refreshing first.

Overview of all Intel Core series and what it means:
i3- never hyper threaded. It is always dual core.
i5- always quad-thread, regardless of number of cores (dual core are HT, quad core are not)
i7- always hyperthreaded, regardless of number of cores (2x threads than cores, always. Can be dual, quad, or hex (non mobile) cores)


In this case, as pointed out, you've got two dual-core, 4-thread cpu at 2.66 and 2.8 GHz. Overall performance in any setting is better very marginally in the i7. Is it $80 better? Well, it's tough to say what exactly $80 is. But put another way, if you put the $80 into a 120gb SSD and drop it into the i5, it will be a noticeably faster machine than the i7 at the same price (several SSd options come in under $80, so for even less than the price of the i7, you could get better performance (with a teeny bit of getting your hands dirty) for less money than the i7).

Even without upgrading to an SSd yourself, I'd save the $80.


ETA- damn it again. I replied to myself instead of editing. I feel like a douche. And I'm wrong.

Eff me, I'm bad at this. I3 are locked at two cores and HT'd, you're right.