i5 with 1080p + SSD Cache or i7 with no SSD + 768p?

jacknicholson

Estimable
Jun 23, 2015
2
0
4,510
Hi all,

For the life of me, I can't decide between two laptops on sale at a local retailer.

Here are the primary differences:

HP Pavilion 15:
- i5 5200U
- 1920 x 1080
- 500GB HDD + 8GB SSD Cache
- RAM isn't expandable (8GB)

Acer Aspire V3-573G:
- i7 5500U
- 1366x768 (!!)
- 1TB HDD (no SSD cache!)
- RAM is expandable (8GB)

Both have Nvidia GeForce 840M GPUs. The HP is packing 4GB VRAM (vs the Acer's 2GB), but I'm obviously never going to need that much.

I'm looking for both all around daily performance, and hopefully a little gaming on the side (while the specs are definitely middling, I reckon I should manage older titles on low/medium).

Now, I'll admit, I quite like that the HP has a 1080p display (even if they're both garbage TNs), and wondering if its SSD cache will make up for its i5 processor. On the other hand, while I doubt I'd ever need more than 8GB of RAM with a low spec device like this, I'm a little miffed that it's not expandable. But I don't know, gents. Much as I prefer Acer as an OEM, I'm wondering if the HP is the all-around better package. What would you recommend? Should I really care if the Acer has an i7, especially considering the HP's SSD cache? Could I really bare to stare at a 1366x768 display for 5 years? Will the HP just set on fire?

Thanks!
 
Solution
The i7 will be less than 10% faster than the i5. The only difference is a 200MHz speed bump. Both GPUs are using DDR3, which will limit their performance. They should have identical performance.
I wouldn't recommend either hard drive. The cache will help boot times, but they will have mostly similar (terrible compared to SSD) performance.
Performance between the two of them will be very similar. I would get the one that has the user experience. Unless the 1080p screen looks terrible, it's probably better. Look at the keyboard, touchpad, battery life, and size.

Calculagator

Estimable
Nov 18, 2014
201
0
5,110
The i7 will be less than 10% faster than the i5. The only difference is a 200MHz speed bump. Both GPUs are using DDR3, which will limit their performance. They should have identical performance.
I wouldn't recommend either hard drive. The cache will help boot times, but they will have mostly similar (terrible compared to SSD) performance.
Performance between the two of them will be very similar. I would get the one that has the user experience. Unless the 1080p screen looks terrible, it's probably better. Look at the keyboard, touchpad, battery life, and size.
 
Solution