Anyone happier after switching to i5 from i7?

[Michael Lovett]

I'm one of those guys that bought an i7 thinking (hoping) it would be worth the boost in performance and/or that it would be a better fit for my multiple-monitor scenario.

But after reading lots of posts it seems like: a) the i7 is only marginally faster b) the i5 might run cooler and be a bit better on the battery c) the i5 should have no problem driving my multiple displays d) the better gpu in the i7 isn't really that helpful to the average guy

Are these all fair conclusions?

I'm thinking of swapping "down" to an i5 before my 30 days is out. Looking for a sanity check on whether that's nuts or not (given all the time I've spent loading and configuring software -- not sure how well a restore from my backup software is going to work)
Michael

 

[ctitanic]

Lets put it in this way, it seems to me that an i5 with 8 Gb is money better spent. In this particular case. In other cases I would go with i7.

 

[Liam2349]

I think it really depends on you. Right now the performance difference is slim but perhaps that will change, we don't know. If you can justify the price difference, and you don't need the money for anything, then feel free to keep it.

 

[unruledboy]

i7 model not just cpu slightly better, the GPU is fairly better, but comes with 2xx extra cost.

I am ok with i5+8g, money is well spent.

 

[supervelous]

I have the i7, and I myself think the i5 8GB Ram is the sweet spot of the line. In fact, I had the i5 8GB and didn't think the i7 was worth the $250 price premium. I decided to upgrade to i7 only because at the time I found a way to get it for only $125 more total out the door rather than $250 plus extra sales tax. That was the price point I felt the minimal potential gains were worth it, but that will differ by person, use case, finances, etc.

 

[unruledboy]

I have the i7, and I myself think the i5 8GB Ram is the sweet spot of the line. In fact, I had the i5 8GB and didn't think the i7 was worth the $250 price premium. I decided to upgrade to i7 only because at the time I found a way to get it for only $125 more total out the door rather than $250 plus extra sales tax. That was the price point I felt the minimal potential gains were worth it, but that will differ by person, use case, finances, etc.

totally agree! you have a good deal, bro

 

[JH99]

I switched from i5 to i7, first i7 ran hot, traded for another i7 and it runs as cool as the i5 and posts faster benchmarks so I am keeping the i7.
Saw a post with several battery saving tips somewhere, after some tweaking the i7 lasts 10 hrs with my normal use -- email, browsing, excel, word.
This has replaced my laptop and I have no issues.

 

[Liam2349]

I switched from i5 to i7, first i7 ran hot, traded for another i7 and it runs as cool as the i5 and posts faster benchmarks so I am keeping the i7.
Saw a post with several battery saving tips somewhere, after some tweaking the i7 lasts 10 hrs with my normal use -- email, browsing, excel, word.
This has replaced my laptop and I have no issues.

So which of the tweaks did you follow to achieve 10 hours?

 

[double07]

I went from i5 to i7. I have no regret and I am much happier with i7. Mine runs cool. Battery is good, getting around 7hrs. I do have wifi issue. wifi was not an issue prior to mid Aug update.

 

[JH99]

Trying to remember everything, been messing with it quite a bit. The battery thread is on this site.
Installed Battery Bar Pro to use the discharge rate as a reference point, at idle with screen brightness set to 25%, discharge rate is 1832 to 2090 mw, that is about as low as I can get, this is with wifi and Bluetooth on with surface pro mouse active, surface type keyboard attached. also about the same with airplane mode on.

Battery saving steps:
Screen brightness 40% or less
Adaptive brightness on
Onedrive paused.
Stopped indexing, disabled windows search service
Disabled start-up tasks that I don't use
Turn off notifications
Optimize drive
Run CCleaner
Run Powercfg options, look for problems

If I think of something else, I will add.
one more -- turn off automatic updates

 

[JH99]

Also installed Realtemp GT on i5 and i7 running both at same time while I was testing, first i7 temps were consistently higher than i5, which I thought was normal, second i7 after exchange were same as i5, running around 80F to 90F on core temp at idle.

 

[megatronium]

Michael for your usage you should get the i5. You'll be happier and won't 2nd guess yourself every day.