2 cores or 4 cores?

[Marute]

The title pretty much says it all..

What should one go for in a laptop? I'm asking because I'm looking at some machines with either i5-2450M 2.5GHz 2 cores, AMD A6-3420M 1.5GHz 4 cores or AMD A6-3410MX APU 1.6GHz 4 cores processor.

In a laptop for everyday ue as well as games like Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and League of Legends, what is the best to get? I expect the i5 to be a no brainer and I don't know much about AMD CPU's so I don't know quite how to compare them.

Thankyou for the help and advice.

[Kilauea]

Originally Posted by Marute

The title pretty much says it all..

What should one go for in a laptop? I'm asking because I'm looking at some machines with either i5-2450M 2.5GHz 2 cores, AMD A6-3420M 1.5GHz 4 cores or AMD A6-3410MX APU 1.6GHz 4 cores processor.

In a laptop for everyday ue as well as games like Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and League of Legends, what is the best to get? I expect the i5 to be a no brainer and I don't know much about AMD CPU's so I don't know quite how to compare them.

Thankyou for the help and advice.

I am far from an expert in terms of laptops, but the i5 should be far superior in terms of CPU. I can't comment on the GPU tho. All 3 computers can handle 4 threads, but the i5 is a fair bit more powerful.
Have a look here to see a comparison: Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech

[GT7R]

Agreed with Kilauea, you can check this one out too; PassMark Software - CPU Benchmark Charts

[terrybear]

Depends on the i5 if its got threading or not on it also if its the default intel igp or a 3rd party one. Otherwise the AMD one with the higher clocks will have what you want for gaming even if it might lack the cpu clocks to do so. Best bet is to wait for the trinity based mobile cpu's to come out as they will have a more competitive core/apu in them vs a intel solution with intels igp/apu onboard only.

[Bond007]

All cores are not equal. Intel cpu are more powerful, but AMD have better integrated graphics (if you want light gaming on a budget). I have an A8 3500m and its exactly what I wanted (got it for $399 boxing week), but if I didn't want to do some gaming I would have gone intel (on a low budget or intel + dedicated graphics with a higher budget).

[Masteroderus]

Here's the jist of it

AMD APU: Decent CPU, Decent on board GPU
Intel: Best CPU on market, on board GPU sucks (if u want to game)

So if u want to cheap out and go with integrated graphics, or a low end solution go with AMD APUs. They can crossfire with certain cheap-o GPUs. You can play diablo 3, WoW, dota2, HoN and SC2 on amd APU at playable frame rates, though probably not on max settings. With an add in card the APU will play said games at higher framerates at higher detail settings.

If you want to play games seriously on a laptop then you'll want an intel processor, at least an I5, with a really really good mobile GPU. It's better (IMO) to pair a high end mobile GPU with intel than AMD because the whole point, the whole REASON FOR THE APU'S EXISTANCE is that you get good frame rates on many games with the integrated chip.

[Marute]

Originally Posted by Masteroderus

Here's the jist of it

AMD APU: Decent CPU, Decent on board GPU
Intel: Best CPU on market, on board GPU sucks (if u want to game)

So if u want to cheap out and go with integrated graphics, or a low end solution go with AMD APUs. They can crossfire with certain cheap-o GPUs. You can play diablo 3, WoW, dota2, HoN and SC2 on amd APU at playable frame rates, though probably not on max settings. With an add in card the APU will play said games at higher framerates at higher detail settings.

If you want to play games seriously on a laptop then you'll want an intel processor, at least an I5, with a really really good mobile GPU. It's better (IMO) to pair a high end mobile GPU with intel than AMD because the whole point, the whole REASON FOR THE APU'S EXISTANCE is that you get good frame rates on many games with the integrated chip.

I'm pretty sure I will need dedicated graphics. As I've written here (specs of the machines) http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/mobile-computing/53350-better-machine.html the i5 comes with an GT630M GPU from Nvidia. The others are listed as well. Feel free to have a look.

If the i5 is the way to go it requires the GPU to be good as well, otherwise there is hardly any point in picking that machine I suppose.

[elmorejohn46]

The i5-2450m 2.5gigs has hyperthreading so is is capable of 4 threads like a AMD with 4 actual cores.I would go with the i5-2450m which will do 3,1gigs with turbo boast .I have look at the reviews and it look like the i5-2450m has the faster IGP unit so your games shold be faster IMO.

[Marute]

Unfotunatley, the nice offer with the i5 processor now costs 1056USD which makes it less of an opportunity. I had to wait until I had it confirmed whether or not my old PC would live or not. In the mean time the offer expired. My luck...

So I'd like to ask what can be expected from the AMD A6-3420M? I've read it'll feature a Turbo Core technology which will boost the frequency to 2,4GHz instead of the regular 1,5GHz but I don't know when this will happen and how effektive it actually is? Will the machine with the A6-3420M suffer from lack of speed when playing games? What to expect really?

[Bond007]

Originally Posted by Marute

Unfotunatley, the nice offer with the i5 processor now costs 1056USD which makes it less of an opportunity. I had to wait until I had it confirmed whether or not my old PC would live or not. In the mean time the offer expired. My luck...

So I'd like to ask what can be expected from the AMD A6-3420M? I've read it'll feature a Turbo Core technology which will boost the frequency to 2,4GHz instead of the regular 1,5GHz but I don't know when this will happen and how effektive it actually is? Will the machine with the A6-3420M suffer from lack of speed when playing games? What to expect really?

My a8 3500m is very efficient at spreading tasks amongst all cores at for that reason turbo core is useless. I have never seen mine go above 1.5 ghz (turbo core only works when there are only 2 cores being used as far as I know). That said I play some CPU heavy games on mine (SCII and Civ 5) and can tell you that it only becomes a factor for me at the very end of long games of Civ or large 4 v 4 battles in SCII. I have tried BF3 on it out of curiosity (all low settings) and it is graphics limited and runs mid 20- mid 30 fps consistently. Older steam based games are a non-issue (Counter strike and Day of Defeat source pretty much maxed everything and smooth).