Questions about i5 and i7 mobile chips for Surface Pro 3

[testudoAubreii]

Hello,

I am going to get a Surface Pro 3, but I have some questions and concerns about the CPU choices.

I was wondering about the i5 and the i7. I know that they are both dual core for the Surface Pro. Is the only difference the iGPU? The i5 has HD 44004600(?) and the i7 has HD 5000. I will be using Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, multiple web browsers and browser tabs up and running, often at the same time.
Will I see a major difference between the 2 CPUs? I am definitely going for the 8GB of RAM, I am just stuck on the processor.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[firo40]

For all those apps and being stuck on an integrated GPU I'd recommend going with the strongest. Take the i7 unless its extremely overpriced

 

[TechyInAZ]

Defiantly go with the i7, but not just for the better igpu.

The i7 dual cores still have a cpu advantage over their i5 baby brothers, they have a higher clock speed, and they have 4mb of cache compared to 3mb on all i5 Mobiles.

 

[testudoAubreii]

For all those apps and being stuck on an integrated GPU I'd recommend going with the strongest. Take the i7 unless its extremely overpriced

Defiantly go with the i7, but not just for the better igpu.

The i7 dual cores still have a cpu advantage over their i5 baby brothers, they have a higher clock speed, and they have 4mb of cache compared to 3mb on all i5 Mobiles.

Thanks for the responses!

Yeah, I am a web developer and designer. If I can replace my 10 lb behemoth (ASUS ROG G75VW) with something like the Surface Pro 3, I would like to give it a go.

I guess I really wanted to know if it could handle the tasks that I would be using it for, which I stated in the OP.

I also read that there is an optimized version of Photoshop here or on the way to the Surface Pro. Anyone hear anything about that?

 

[TechyInAZ]

no I haven't heard about Photoshop being optimized.

One more thing, get if you can at least 8GB of RAM so Photoshop and other things runs smoothly.

 

[testudoAubreii]

no I haven't heard about Photoshop being optimized.

One more thing, get if you can at least 8GB of RAM so Photoshop and other things runs smoothly.

Well, that is great news. I really dig the mobility factor to take work and "play" anywhere I go without having to lug around that big ol' laptop. So, do you think the i5 with 8GB of RAM would do the trick?

 

[TechyInAZ]

no I haven't heard about Photoshop being optimized.

One more thing, get if you can at least 8GB of RAM so Photoshop and other things runs smoothly.

Well, that is great news. I really dig the mobility factor to take work and "play" anywhere I go without having to lug around that big ol' laptop. So, do you think the i5 with 8GB of RAM would do the trick?

That should work just fine. I have a laptop that has an i5 2410M (older version of the surface 3 i5) and it can run Photoshop (CS6) pretty well for basic stuff, and with 8GB on the surface you should be able to do more.

 

[MyDocuments]

I had a similar decision for selecting a new computer for a family member, however my parameters were not so much video & graphic related workloads but more longevity of the platform. With the longevity in mind I decided to select a minimum of 8Mb RAM option which comes with at least 256Gb HDD (an SD-Card and/or external HDD/SSD can also be used later).

The processor was a tough decision, but I saw this when searching for CPU comparisons; http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4650U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4300U

Now, knowing that the Intel iGPU isn't the best anyway, apparently whichever one it selected, plus the premium cost of the premium i7 part and the (expected) reduction in battery life and (expected) more heat dissipated; I've read where some people are not happy with the heat exhausted from the case of the SP3 whichever model they have, my personal choice then became the i5.

It's a shame that an AMD CPU (with iGPU) isn't as strong as the Intel in the CPU area, otherwise I would have had more choice.
To my mind if AMD sorted out their single-threaded performance on their APU and added some Layer-3 cache to that heterogeneous design, then together with their stronger iGPU, and yes I know it would break the bank in terms of power dissipation and resultant battery-life; it appears Intel balance the power-drain with the number of transistors in the Gfx and AMD likewise with the L3 cache(?!), but possibly mitigated by a process shrink to 14 or 10nm with FinFET, then I think I'd have my ideal CPU (and the market gets healthier from a little more competition).

Just my two-cents... and while setting up the system for said family member over the festive period (MS also reduced the cost by 100 so the type-cover purchase was a no-brainer), I got the impression that the SP3 is a lovely machine to settle down with on the sofa. My only useability grumble was that it needed a level surface upon which to sit with the type-cover attached, so remember to remove all keys, wallets, etc. from your pockets if you want to place it on your lap.

 

[gaeinofso]

One more thing, get if you can at least 8GB of RAM so Photoshop and other things runs smoothly.