3rd Gen i5 or i7?

[ankit3291]

I am planning to buy a new laptop but confused between i5 or i7.
For i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz);4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz and AMD Radeon HD 7730M DDR3 2GB card and 1TB harddisk.
For i7-3612QM Processor (6MB cache, up to 3.1 GHz);4GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz and AMD Radeon HD 7730M DDR3 2GB card and 1TB harddisk.
Which one should I purchase and is the graphic card good for gaming?

http://ark.intel.com/compare/67356,67355

 

[abekl]

Because laptops are so hard, often impossible, to upgrade, the logic about buying the best technology you can is different than with a desktop. With a laptop, it makes sense to buy the best technology you can, instead of aiming for a "sweet spot" and betting on technology price drops over time.

 

[zhihao50]

Manly i7 got twice as many core. Its quad core where as i5 is dual core. Meaning i7 can preform twice as much work for a well threaded program. But it will also uses more up energy quicker (but getting things done quicker so total energy use should be the same).

HD4000 graphic are really low powered. It can do gaming on mininum quality, or run casual games but not much more then that. If you can a dedicated graphic card on laptop. some are more powerful but graphic cards on laptop generally are slower then desktop counterpart.

 

[13thmonkey]

Manly i7 got twice as many core. Its quad core where as i5 is dual core. Meaning i7 can preform twice as much work for a well threaded program. But it will also uses more up energy quicker (but getting things done quicker so total energy use should be the same).

HD4000 graphic are really low powered. It can do gaming on mininum quality, or run casual games but not much more then that. If you can a dedicated graphic card on laptop. some are more powerful but graphic cards on laptop generally are slower then desktop counterpart.

read the post.

OP, 7730M is ok, its mid range ATI, BUT its not the same a HD77XX desktop card, it will be substantially slower than that. It will thermally stress the whole machine when gaming. Gaming and laptops are not an easy marriage. The card has slowish memory as its only DDR3, and not DDR5.

It will game, but do not expect much from it.