Need Advice: 2.5GHz Core 2 Quad vs 2.3GHz Core i7 (2nd Gen)

[digitalhecht]

Hello All,
I am looking to (possibly) de-clutter my life by replacing my Sony Vaio F series laptop and (almost 3 year old) Gateway FX Series desktop (2.5GHz Core 2 Quad, 4GB RAM, 1GB GeForce 4800 GS, 7200 RPM primary drive) with a custom Battalion laptop from iBuypower (2.3GHz Sandy Bridge, 8GB RAM, 1GB Geforce GT 540M, 7200 RPM drive, Win 7). The Vaio (Win 7 Ultimate) is a bit of a disappointment with its 1.9GHz Core i7 and 4GB RAM, while the 2.5GHz Gateway (XP SP3) handles most of my CPU-intensive needs like a champ (e.g. video editing in Avid, After Effects rendering, minor 3D rendering in Vue, audio recording in Sonar, soft synths, etc). The plan is to have one (mobile when needed) workhorse as I am tired of matching preferences and plugin installs on two different machines. Can I expect to see a bump in performance with this spec'd laptop from iBuypower? A drop? A wash? (Recommendations for competing vendors/products welcome, with a budget of $1800, all-inclusive. Though a similar spec'd product from Alienware is almost $800 more!) Many thanks for your input!
Ed

 

[gamerk316]

A simmilary clocked SB chip is about 25-30% faster then a Core 2 Quad. [C2Q -> Nehalem was about a 15% increase, and Nehalem to SB was another 15% or so increase]. Plus, you'll use less power and give off less heat.

And yes, Alienware is grossly overpriced. I like ibuypower a lot, but my last two builds have been from DigitalStormOnline. Cyperpower is good for no other reason then its custom configurators, to get an idea on pricing; I wouldn't buy from them though...

 

[digitalhecht]

Thanks, gamerk. That's the ammo I needed. And thanks for the DigitalStormOnline recommendation. (Though ibuypower's specs/prices better fit my budget.) Now to convince the wife...

 

[digitalhecht]

Best answer selected by digitalhecht.