Solved! HP tm2t Core i3 330UM or i5 430UM

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Hey All,

I'm looking at getting an HP Touchsmart tm2t Tablet to replace my old Alienware laptop - it runs like a champ but lugging it to classes all day and 2hrs of battery sucks.


■It looks like I can get the Core i3 330UM with Intel HD Graphics for base price
■$50 USD more gets me the i3 330UM with an ATI HD 5450 Switchable Graphics card
■$75 more than base gets me an i5 430UM with Intel HD graphics
■And $125 more than base gets me an i5 430UM with the HD 5450 switchable graphics


Ordinarily I'd just eat the $125 and get the nicer processor and better graphics, but it wont build till Oct 11th and get here 2-5 days after. If I get the Base model I think I can get it by Friday.

I'd be using the Tablet for mostly note taking, some video watching, reading, and maybe some WoW or other light gaming or photoshop. Will I notice a difference? Is it worth the price and extra time?
 
Solution
The only difference between the i3-330UM and the i5-430UM is that the i5 has Turbo Boost. In basic use you'll probably see a small increase in performance because of this. If that is worth $75 then go for it.

The 5450 is a pretty weak graphics card. That being said, It's still an improvement over the integrated graphics and you should be able to run games on more demanding settings or with higher frame-rates when compared to the integrated graphics. Again, if that seems like it'd be worth the extra $50 then go for it.

Since these are mobility parts there aren't as many benchmarks out there so its hard to give you exact figures for what kind of performance increase you can expect.

I can tell you that I have a tm2t and I went with the...

subasteve5800

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Sep 15, 2010
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The only difference between the i3-330UM and the i5-430UM is that the i5 has Turbo Boost. In basic use you'll probably see a small increase in performance because of this. If that is worth $75 then go for it.

The 5450 is a pretty weak graphics card. That being said, It's still an improvement over the integrated graphics and you should be able to run games on more demanding settings or with higher frame-rates when compared to the integrated graphics. Again, if that seems like it'd be worth the extra $50 then go for it.

Since these are mobility parts there aren't as many benchmarks out there so its hard to give you exact figures for what kind of performance increase you can expect.

I can tell you that I have a tm2t and I went with the i5-430 and the ATI Mobility 5450 Graphics card. I rarely use the Graphics card since it eats battery life but other than some minor complaints about the touch pad (get a mouse) and screen (the viewing angles are just terrible) I am extremely satisfied with it. For me its the perfect mash up between an Ipad and a lower end laptop.
 
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