I don't think I can spend more than the ones I have in the red font in my first post, I know the bigger the processor the better, but I think my options right now are either the best i5 or the worst i7, what you guys think?? is the extra $50 gonna make a big difference??
and btw thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it!
Intel® Core™ i5 Processor
Intel® Core™ i5 Processor - Overview
http://www.google.com/search?client=...03ae61600c8f1d
this would suit your needs and its at a good price at the moment, or drop down to a Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor they are good and function well and another good priced processor a q8300 is good.
Intel® Core
http://www.google.com/search?client=...c6b4cea9b27ecb
The difference between the i5's and the i7's is hyper-threading. i7's have it, i5's do not; however, in order for that to matter, you've got to use applications that make use of hyper-threading. If you don't, and you don't, then it's paying for something you won't/can't use.
Any i series quad core will be more than sufficient for what you're doing, even if you decide one day to play games. To be sure, for what you want the machine to do, the i5 is overkill... you would not notice the difference between it and an i3.
For what you have said you want to do with it, the i5-460M will be sufficient. From there its an upgrade to "future-proof" the machine for later on down the road.
If all you ever intend to do is play iTunes, web surf, and customize your desktop then its not worth spending extra money on the processor. The only reason to spend more money on the processor in that case would be to give yourself the ability to accomplish more processor heavy tasks (listed above) later on down the road if you so choose. Its up to you, if you never intend to do anything but what you have said ever then dont waste your money on a processor that you dont need. Also like I said before, just because you dont have the "best" processor doesnt mean that your machine WONT do those things. It just wont be as fast.
I just purchased an i5 640, and It does everything I need it to do.. with 6gb of RAM it flies .... IMO...
Thanks for the help guys, but just out of curiosity what kind of processors do you guys have and what you use your computers for? games? internet? photo editing?
if you click the lower left corner where it says "My System Specs" you will see my computer
i use it mostly for gaming, CAD/CAM, photo editing, and eventually want to get into 3-D rendering when i find the time
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