i3_4005u with 4gb ram or Pentium N3700 with 8gb ram

[I_know_nothing]

Hi,

I am looking into buying a cheap laptop for my parents to take with them when they go south this winter. They just pay bills, browse websites, and stream videos. Nothing crazy so I know either will work. My question is, which setup is better overall?

I was siding with the pentium because it has more ram and is a quad core over the i3 dual core. GPU boss (which isn't always the best comparison) shows the pentium beats the i3 in every aspect which isn't surprising since it's 1.5 years newer.

1. Am I overlooking anything?

2. Is nonspecific intel HD graphics weaker than the HD 4400 graphics of the i3?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Darkseiders]

Probably would be better off with the Pentium.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

As with any inexpensive laptop, it's not really the CPU these days which is the problem. The problem with things today tend to be all the other details. Screen size, colors, resolution, viewing angles. Keyboard size, layout, feel. Trackpad scrolling, responsiveness.

When it comes to performance, you have a choice of an i3 dual core with hyperthreading, or a quad core Pentium. Remember though, there's a TDP limit - the Pentium runs in a 6w envelope (that's CPU AND GPU) while the i3 has more than 2.5 times the TDP to work in. I'm willing to bet the i3 is more powerful overall than the N3700 and will get through things faster.

Lastly, and most importantly winds up being the storage solution. SSD? HDD? 7200 rpm or 5400 rpm? Makes a huge difference as the CPU tends to wait around for a virtual eternity for data from the HDD. SSD's are significantly better, but more expensive. Some of the n3700s also have eMMC drive setups, and those are... somewhere in between, but very limiting in actual storage capacity.

If you posted the actual laptops you're looking at, we could give you a much more definitive guide.

 

[I_know_nothing]

The laptops are:

1. Toshiba Satellite C55-C5268

http://www.staples.com/Toshiba-Satellite-C55-C5268-Laptop-with-Windows-10/product_1674142

2. Dell Inspiron 15-3542

http://www.staples.com/Dell-Inspiron-15-3542-Laptop-with-Windows-10/product_1921932?externalize=certona

If people are wondering why staples, the reason I am buying them at there is I have an additional $130 off in rewards/free gift cards.

Thanks everyone!

 

[blazorthon]

The Pentium's lower TDP is probably mostly due to its smaller fab process. In terms of CPU power, the Pentium is probably superior. Per core, it should at worst have equal performance (at best it should have a considerable advantage with its burst frequency being much higher) and when you're using all four threads, the Pentium should have a clear victory.

The i3 has more power-hungry graphics than the Pentium and that is partially where the TDP difference comes from too. The i3 has more GPU execution cores and their max frequency is significantly higher. Still, the Pentium's base frequency is much higher and it has a somewhat tweaked architecture with faster RAM, so it might have the graphics performance advantage anyway.

I recommend the newer laptop with the Pentium. I'm surprised to see an actual quad core Pentium, but even Intel lists it as such. Every other time I've seen an advertisement for a quad core Pentium in the past, it was a lie according to Intel.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The Pentium N3700 is a 14nm part so it will use less power and has 4 actual cores however the iGPU is weaker, it only has 16 EUs with a maximum clock speed of 700MHz while the i3 4005U has 20EUs with a maximum clock speed of 950MHz.

The Pentium N3700 is a quad core part, however it is based on the Braswell:

http://www.techspot.com/review/1014-intel-celeron-n3050-pentium-n3700/page3.html

So even with more physical cores, the i3 is a more powerful CPU due to a more powerful core.

The i3, however is a notebook CPU. What are you trying to do?

 

[jaguarskx]

I would take a laptop with a Core i3-4005u over a Penitum N3700 any day of the week.

While the Atom based Pentium N3700 is a quad core CPU, Atom CPUs are very weak in comparison to Core i3 CPUs. It will still be sufficient for your parents very undemanding needs, but the more powerful Core i3 laptop means that it should last longer Pentium N laptop before your parents complain about performance.

The Pentium N3700's Intel HD graphics core is about as powerful as the Intel HD 3000 in Sandy Bridge generation mobile CPUs.

 

[blazorthon]

Ah, now that, I did not know. The performance difference really isn't as big as the benchmark may suggest if you consider the fact that the i3 in question has a frequency less than half that of the i3 in the benchmark, but it still has a significant advantage in single threaded performance regardless. Multi-threaded performance is roughly equal between the two. The i3 is a little bit better, granted having half the RAM does negate the advantage somewhat if you do any multi-tasking. The i3 definitely still has a significant advantage in the graphics department.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Still the Pentium is based on a Atom style core so it will be weaker even with a lower clock rate.

 

[I_know_nothing]

Thank you for all the responses everyone, I will go with the i3. The re-branding of Pentium is a little deceiving. I knew it was definitely not an i5 by a long shot but I thought it would at least beat an i3 or be close. Lesson learned.