SP3 i7 vs SP4 i5?

[macmee]

Right, so the Canadian currency absolutely plummeted in the past year and I don't want to spend close to $3000 after tax on an upgrade (and also not to be controversial but I doubt the SP4 is worth $3000 in value to myself anyway).

SO!!!

If I buy the i5 SP4, will I be effectively downgrading from my i7 SP3? I have no idea because even if I found benchmarks, I know that both devices have different throttle conditions.

 

[leeshor]

It's all conjecture at this point. When some of the reviewers can run realistic benchmarks comparing them we may get a better idea.

 

[macmee]

Ha, just had a conversation with their sales team on the msft website and the person I was speaking to was asking why I'm upgrading if I already have a SP3.

I told them it was because I am unhappy with the heating issues the SP3 has but maybe he had a point - maybe it's not worth upgrading for SP3 users because the SP3 is pretty solid.

 

[Dim-Ize]

I always like Macmee's posts. He gets right to the heart of the matter here.

I skipped the SP3, much to my personal astonishment, as I read the results of many users' frustrations with throttling. I know I would have been very frustrated if I bought the SP3 i7 and played a game - just like I'm currently doing on my SP2 these days - only to discover the performance was horrid.

Is it MS fault? Is it Intel? Without giving them a complete hall pass, as I assume the genius team at MS knew the possible issues, I don't think it was intentional to "stick it to" anybody. Intel just made the thing...

This new generation is (from what I can gather) still untested under heavy loads compared to prior models. Sounds like Gen 4 to Gen 6 side by side on multiple specifics will help us (especially laymen like me). Moreover, there is the radically new liquid cooling which is either "fluff" or contributes to the results we want.

Will the new device outperform simillar speed CPU in same physical footprint in terms of battery life? Heat? Throttling? Gaming? CAD? etc.?

I guess right now - we just don't know. But like many, I want to see the data.

 

[WildKarrde]

Best I can tell, the new i3 performs about as well as the i5 I have in my Surface Pro 2... so I assume that the results could be similar with going from the old i7 to the new i5.

Personally, I think because of the increased cooling capacity, an i5 SP4 would be an upgrade from an i7 SP3, but having owned neither (don't have my SP4 yet), that's only a guess.

Personally, my big concern with going i5 vs i7 is the power consumption. I don't need an i7... but I can definitely use the Iris 540 graphics. If the i7 consumes a noticeably larger amount of power than the i5 though, then I can live with the i5 no problem.