Question Could I expect a laptop with i3 7100u to last shorter than i5 8250u?

Mar 1, 2019
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Let me explain my question better.

What I'm considering is the long term, future proofing aspect of buying a laptop. I could buy a laptop with i3 7100u costing 25k or an i5 8250u, which costs maybe 35k(about 37% more).

I know that i5 8th gen is much better than i3, but I'm not going to be using the laptop for cpu-intensive purposes. The reason I am considering get the latter is because I'd expect it to last longer, as even everyday browser and media/application usage becomes more and more demanding over the years. If it outlasts the life of the former processor by > 40%, I would consider it money well spent.

Thoughts? I'm aware that there's many other factors that contribute to laptop life, I want to limit it to processors here.
 
Last edited:
Feb 20, 2019
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They should, as the new 8th gen intel laptop cpu's are meant to run a lot more efficiently, and as an added bonus if you do decide to start doing some cpu intensive stuff the 8th gen cpus (compared to 7th gen, especially from i3 to i5) are a huge step up, and have far more performance. According to multiple sources the 8th gen (and this is i7 to i7) can be anywhere from 50 to 90 percent faster than 7th gen. So yes, the 8th gen laptops should not only last longer but be compatible and powerful for a lot longer as well.
 

alithegreat

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Aug 15, 2013
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Going for 8th generation would be the better choice, because intel made some significant changes during this leap. ( Not all generation differences always did much good)

Check the comparison The physical core count is quite important as you can see 8th gen i5 is much better than 7th gen i3 and i5

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compar...l-i5-8250U-vs-Intel-i5-7260U/2879vs3042vs2993

So if you can afford 8th will be better choice.
 

Aspiring techie

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Mar 24, 2015
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One thing I would caution you on is that the CPU tends to get bottlenecked by they laptops slow HDD as time goes on. I've seen laptops with powerful CPUs run quite slow after several years simply because the HDD couldn't keep up. I've also upgraded lower-end laptops with SSDs and they are so much faster than laptops with high-end CPUs and HDDs.

Since you are not doing anything CPU intensive, an i3 7100u should not be nearly as big a bottleneck as having an HDD.

In short, having an SSD is likely more important than having a high-end CPU.
 
THe 8250u would actually be considered an i7 when compared to the 7th generation because it has 4 cores and 8 threads. It also has a signifcantly higher boost clock of 3.4ghz compared to 2.4ghz of the 7100u. Combine that with the fact that the i3 7100 is a 2 core 4 thread cpu it's a major leap in performance if you're thinking about future proofing. Just make sure it has an SSD and it'll last you many years while being more power efficient.