Asus or Asus? (i3 vs i5)

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imaginaryD

New Member
I'm looking for a laptop for University next year, and I have narrowed it down between these two:

1) Asus U30JC-A1

- Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 350M 2.26 GHz
- 4GB DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM, 2 x SODIMM socket for expansion up to 4GB SDRAM
- NVIDIA® GeForce® G 310M, with 512MB & Intel GMA HD (Support NVIDIA Optimus Technology) VRAM
- 320GB 5400rpm 2.5" SATA
- realistically gets around 5-6 hours of battery life (based on consumer reviews)

Full Specs Sheet: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX28876(ME).aspx

2) Asus K52JR-X4

- Intel® Core™ i5 Processor 430M
2.26 GHz, with Turbo Boost up to 2.53 GHz
- 4GB DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM, 2 x SODIMM socket for expansion up to 8GB SDRAM
- ATI Mobility™ Radeon® HD 5470 1G DDR3 VRAM
- 320GB 5400rpm
- realistically gets around 4 1/2 hours of battery life (based on consumer reviews)

Full Specs Sheet: http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX28399(ME).aspx

This is primarily for doing schoolwork, but I'm also interested in doing light gaming (Steam most likely; TF2)
What is the difference between the i3 and i5 processor? (I'm a noob when it comes to this stuff), I know the i5 is Quad-Core (correct me if I'm wrong), what would be the proportional difference between these two computers in terms of speed/power (eg. one is __ times faster than the other)
Also, I'll be taking this to school, I have noticed that with a more powerful processor battery life tends to decrease, do you think that it would be overall worth it? (I'm aware at University I'll need to plug it in...)
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core,
thats the difference, the i5 would be faster, as you pointed out it has 4 cores rather than 2 in the i3. i see that the price is roughly the same, but the i5 one is much much better, a) the i5 processor, b) blu ray combo, c) not integrated graphics card, and prety good one, with 1gb.
But and this is big But, (D) School work, Valve games (i.e. TF2, SCS, HL2, so on) you would need battery life, average performance, so for you, for what you have mentioned you would be doing with the computer, i would recommend the i3 one. unless you are going to play very intensive games, and using heavy programs, you do not really need the i5. But presonally the i5 computer that you have mentioned has much more for just that little extra. so again summery, if want portability, a little bit of gamiingm mostly school work, then the i3, if want a bit more intensive gaming, watch blu rays, a bit less school work, less portability since the i3 one is 13 inch and i5 is 15.
obviousely you decide, i personally go for the i5, but you perhaps do not really need all that power.
 
Your going to school which means your going to need battery so go with the i3. By the way I believe that i5 is only a dual core. Most i5's are only dual core's, there only a few that are quad. But I believe the i3 will do good for you and be better for college.
 
Cameldude said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core,
thats the difference, the i5 would be faster, as you pointed out it has 4 cores rather than 2 in the i3. i see that the price is roughly the same, but the i5 one is much much better, a) the i5 processor, b) blu ray combo, c) not integrated graphics card, and prety good one, with 1gb.
But and this is big But, (D) School work, Valve games (i.e. TF2, SCS, HL2, so on) you would need battery life, average performance, so for you, for what you have mentioned you would be doing with the computer, i would recommend the i3 one. unless you are going to play very intensive games, and using heavy programs, you do not really need the i5. But presonally the i5 computer that you have mentioned has much more for just that little extra. so again summery, if want portability, a little bit of gamiingm mostly school work, then the i3, if want a bit more intensive gaming, watch blu rays, a bit less school work, less portability since the i3 one is 13 inch and i5 is 15.
obviousely you decide, i personally go for the i5, but you perhaps do not really need all that power.
Click to expand...

One of my main questions is...do you think the difference in battery life is that substantial to go with the i3 instead of the i5? I would most likely be playing the games at home rather than at school (for obvious reasons haha)
 
just a little bit, but i suggest do not use the turbo boost, since i have mine on and it sorry for the word but rapes the battery life, from the promised 4 hours, it barely does 1 and half. but i think generally the i5 would use more power, since it is more powerfull technically, so battery life would be lower at the same rate of use, compared with i3.
DMGrier to you, well yes most i5 are dual core by structure, BUT, they have two physical cores and 2 virtual ones, thus making it a artificial quad core processor, its like i7, it has 4 physical cores, but overall it has 8, and then the super i7 core, has 6 physical, so overall 12 cores. and the virtual do prety well. sorry you probably know about this more than i do, i read this a while back when researching for my big computer.
 
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