old v new laptop processors

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I think I know the answer here but, y'know, need hand holding. :)

Looking for a cheap laptop to noodle on; current old i3 has served me well and still does what I need generally, just Reaktor Blocks spannering the works...

So, not having kept up with specs for a few years, am I right in thinking that new cheap mobile i5s (xxxxUs) totally suck compared to older (2nd/3rd gen) i5s? Seems I could get a refurb older i5 laptop (still with 1yr warranty) with a considersably better system mark for a fair bit less than a new bottom range i5 one. I know system marks are not an accurate audio performance guide but found they give a fair pointer in the past.

Cheers.

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Well, there probably is not a whole lot of people actually qualified to answer this for you buddy, but My dad designed some of the first processors, my wife is so microsoft certified they can't keep up with her, and I have experience with running both macs and pcs since '98. before that I was a part of that group of school kids that was introduced to the first personal computers in grade school.

My impression is that there is a reason the MBP run an older processor. as processors become faster that also become less powerful. You have a choice between power or speed. The newer processors are being built for energy efficiency. the only ones building cpu's for raw power is IBM. That's why the old power pc macs still hold their own against today's much faster processors.

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It's easy to comment if you give us two example CPU's your looking at.

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This site contains common benchmark results for all the processors: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
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Cheers all.

@Kaine: something like an i5 3230M found in older laptops against a 5200U.

Passmark gives the 3230 a 30% or so adantage over the 5200U.

Though I think I overlooked the 7xxxU CPUs, seem they have quite a boost over the previous gens.

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GaryG wrote:Cheers all.

@Kaine: something like an i5 3230M found in older laptops against a 5200U.

Passmark gives the 3230 a 30% or so adantage over the 5200U.

Though I think I overlooked the 7xxxU CPUs, seem they have quite a boost over the previous gens.

A few benchmarks compared at http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-5 ... e-i5-3230M
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Yeah, CPU benchmark is where I'd be looking and yes the 3230M is new enough that I doubt very little in the "U" class is going to come close, let alone beat it.

I'm not a big fan of CPU/GPU boss sites as they seem to take into consideration some very random metrics that tend to skew the results, such as which is the newer chip, which in this sort of consideration isn't important when we just want to know which runs faster.

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Kaine wrote:I'm not a big fan of CPU/GPU boss sites as they seem to take into consideration some very random metrics that tend to skew the results, such as which is the newer chip, which in this sort of consideration isn't important when we just want to know which runs faster.
Nah, it wasnt their own metrics I was providing that for, just the additional benchmarks.
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I was looking at http://www.cpubenchmark.net, just their CPU Mark as they call it.

The 7200u is coming out at ~4700 compared to the 3900 of the 3230... That makes me think it could be worth getting something based on that for not much more than a refurb (if I stick to modern specs like 8GB, 1TB HD etc)... Maybe the question is more do I want a refurb alu bodied HP or a new basic HP for a little more.

Anyway, I'll ponder, cheers all.

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I picked up a 2nd hand U processor laptop last year,installed daw & plugs,tweeked the settings,gave it away next day horrible performance

Just get an elitebook i5 loads on ebay uk,they are so easy to upgrade too with ram & ssd,the back just slides off

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^^^ Those elitebooks are swag. We have several laying around the house. I am loving the HP line right now. Killer value. I just bought a new ENVY at an eye popping price.

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From what I know cpu performance is at its peak for todays technologies available.

They simply can't go smaller than atom size and that point is reached now.

All you see from today on are minor improvements or marketing talk.

But I'm no chip developer so don't take my post that serious.

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They can of course put a 100 cores inside which makes it better, that sort of improvement.

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The's still a few die shrinks on the roadmap over the next couple of years, but yeah, we're reaching the limit in the next decade or so. We can stack more cores, but the inefficiencies there in how current code handles that many threads that mean it wouldn't get us the same sort of gains.

The are more than a few new options on the horizon (optical, fluid, bio, quantum) but we're still a while off any of those appearing in your studio.

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