Intel i7 5500U vs i7 4720hq

[Jake131]

First off.....I know very little about computers, and all the technical terms.

I am in the market for a new laptop, actully I already purchased one directly from HP, and it being custom built for me right now. In the last 2 weeks I have tried to cram as much info into my little brain as I can. Ghz this and terabyte that, and ram too.

Basically what I am looking for is a laptop I can load all my media (Blurays music etc) onto, play the occasional game, surf the web, and use it to run all of my EQ software for my home theater.

I choose a HP 17t with a 2tb hdd, 16g ram, and a i7 5500u, bluray drive/writer, full HD screen etc. Well let me back up a little.....when I was on HP's website the 17t had a option for the 5500U or the 4720hq. I did a bunch of research between the 2 processors and according to all the benchmark tests, the 4720 was a better performing processor. So I choose that one, and tried to purchase it oline. My credit card rejected the payment for fraud. So I had to call my credit card to approve the purchase. I then had to call HP direct to push it through. When I spoke to the gentlemen, (who was actully a pleasure to talk too) he sold me on the 5500U. Right after I got off the phone with him I immediately questioned my decision on the processor, and did more research. I came back. To the conclusion that I wanted the 4720. So I called back in the morning, and spoke with a different person. She went on to tell me that the 5500U is a great processor, so I stayed with it. She said I could return it within 30 days if I wasn't happy. Well me knowing me, I am already not happy and it hasn't even been delivered yet. If I am dropping over a grand I want the best.

So my question to you guys is....which is the better processor? The 5500U or the 4720hq? All the passmarks and stuff seem to show that the 4720 is a way better processor. I am not concerned on battery life and efficiency, I just want the better faster processor. The 5500U is a dual core with hyper threading, and the 4720hq is a quad core with hyper threading. So it seems the 4720 is better?

I am tempted to send the computer back unopened and just get it with the 4720hq.

Any feedback would be appericated!

 

[~Darkseeker~]

the 5500U is a dual-core 2.4GHZ chip

the 4720 is a quad-core 2.6GHz chip


The 4720 has twice as many logical cores and logically twice as many threads, it also has a higher clock speed per core (200MHz faster).

The 4720 will consume more power and possibly get hotter but you are right in thinking it is the better chip.

EDIT: after some research, the 4720HQ is actually more efficient than the 5500U in terms of heat and power consumption as well as being more powerful (Presumably this means it has a lower operating voltage)

It's looking like a one horse race then.

 

[Celery]

Seeing the benchmarks between the 5500U and the 4720HQ the 4720HQ is clearly the winner (8256 PM vs 3967 PM).

I can see why you want the 4720HQ so insist on it with them.

 

[BK_123]

Yeah I'd be going with 4720HQ, Depending how intensive the games and software you run they may run better with the i7 over the i5. My HP laptop which has one of the first i5 chips the 430M gets very hot when not on a cooling tray/pad but CPU's now have better technology still help them stay cool.

 

[Jake131]

I wasn't sure if the passmark score was the best thing to go off of. Like even though a score may be lower, it still might be better then the one with a higher score. Like I said I am totally new to CPU's.

So is the passmark pretty much the tell all about chips? There were other test too that I have no clue what for. Like a 3D mark, and a geekbench etc. the 4720 blew the 5500 out of the water on all of them.

It was weird though....they were really pushing the 5500U on me, even though I told them I wanted the 4720. Even when I called back and told them how I felt. I am still going to buy a laptop from them, so is wasnt like I was bailing. They made a big deal about once I placed the order I couldn't change anything.

Well I'm going to call back and tell them either change it now, or just send a pre paid return label with the laptop. I don't even want to open it in case they hassle me about returning a opened box.

---------- Post added at 02:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 AM ----------

Yeah I'd be going with 4720HQ, Depending how intensive the games and software you run they may run better with the i7 over the i5. My HP laptop which has one of the first i5 chips the 430M gets very hot when not on a cooling tray/pad but CPU's now have better technology still help them stay cool.

Actually there are both i7 chips. The 4720hq is a 4th gen haswell, and the 5500U is a 5th gen broad well

 

[Celery]

I think Passmark averaged the results from a series of tests and good to go by. Each CPU have their strength and weakness in certain areas but for these two CPUs the difference is night and day.

I had an AMD X2 system that I wanted to upgrade and after looking through the Passmark for CPUs and comparing them I found that the Celeron G540 for the same price will smoke the AMD X2s. I decided to build a budget system using the Celeron and it was a good call. I never liked Celerons in the past but this Sandy Bridge CPU has some balls and performed very well. Better than I expected from it that I was surprised.

Since then I quit AMD and went Intel.

 

[cb600fshornet]

The 4720HQ is a much better chip. The "U" on the i7 5500U designation is low voltage, it's more of a power saving chip for ultrabooks etc so you would not expect as good performance.

 

[~Darkseeker~]

The fact of the matter is that the 4720 has more cores and a higher clock speed per core, so regardless of situation it will be better. The only thing really is price to performance and whether it will be overkill for what you need.

80% of games can't make use of 4 cores, but almost every CPU-intense application (video renderers, design programs, photoshop, aftereffects) CAN make use of more than 2 cores.

 

[Jake131]

So I called HP last night and canceled the order with the 5500U. I place a new order with the 4720hq. It ended up saving me $100 too. I think I'll be a happy camper now.

It is probably WAY overkill for what I need, but that is how I roll. Everything I do is overkill, I like the best. I want to be able to throw anything at this laptop with out it missing a beat.

Thanks guys for filling me in on how the passmark scores really do mean what they mean.

 

[~Darkseeker~]

end of the day a CPU's job is to process, and your passmarks and benchmarks tell you just how well it does what it's meant to!