What to expect from 11th gen i5 processor.

Question

My 5 year old i7 7500 Inspiron is computing fine, but it has a defective charging port. I am thinking the cost of a fix may be better spent on a new laptop. Its 7th gen i7 7500 has been declared not fit for Windows 11. A new battery and charger did not help. The charging port is damaged due to the pressure of the 2 in 1 screen pulling apart the left hand corner of the base of the laptop making the charging port not connect well to the plug of the charger. The plug will easily fall out. I should have returned it on warranty, but I have gotten by yet it gets worse.

Looking at new Inspirons, my question is: Can I expect the 11th gen i5 to be as fast as the 7th gen i7 I have?

The Dell site has an Inspiron 14, no touch screen, which is fine because I am done with this 2 in 1 touch screen. I never used that feature. The listing at Dell is a 11th gen i5. I am more concerned about speed than size of the SSD or RAM. So, I wonder if that Inspiron 14 would be at least as capable as my 5 year old 7th gen i7 7500. And, hopefully it will have no charging port issue. My other choice would be go Mac Air...if my files will convert. That would be a return to Mac after 25 years of Microsoft OS products.

ejbpesca · Accepted Answer

Okay, but let's know that my current i7 claims only 2.4 gigahertz clock speed on average but may go into faster speed as needed by turbo mode. Your post mentions Turbo mode. I am ignorant to that mode. The usage I do with this older i7 7500 rarely even turns the fan on in the laptop so it has been sufficient. Once in a while the fan will come on. I figure that is some heavy duty download and automatic adjustments Windows 10 is performing. I am not looking to put a new CPU in this laptop but to get a new device that is as least as fast as this one is. I am wondering if average speed of the newer Inspirons with 11th gen i5 are equal or above in processing speed to my older 7th gen i7. I recall a turbo setting I have on this i7 but it does not kick in till the going gets rough with big graphics files as in processing large RAW photos etc. which I do not need. I just need basics of streaming HD 1080 video from wifi, email, and searching the web for info from YouTube, loading graphics and text from public library sources, and text based sources. I will look at your links but the Turbo confuses me. Those speeds are impressive but I don't know if a stock i5, Inspiron would be in "Turbo," mode continuously. I am hoping that the lower priced i5's at gen 11 are just as fast or faster than my gen 7 i7 which it is looking like they probably are although I can't get a simple straight answer to that question....yet.

When I see the specs on the current 11th gen i5's it looks good. I am asking advice here to back up that claim from an experienced user that yes, moving down from i7 to i5 with current machines will at least keep me at the speed I have with my older i7.

Hope that makes sense. Bottom line question: "Is an 11th gen i5, as fast or faster in regular mode (not turbo) than a 7th gen i7?

Hamish MacBeth · Accepted Answer

BEWARE: i5 11600K is a desktop CPU so it is not  valid comparison. A better comparison is the i5-1135G7 which is used in many Dell laptops. This has 4 cores (8 threads) and scores a Passmark of 10150. Despite being a slightly higher clock speed (in non turbo mode) of 2.7GHz vs 2.4GHz the 7500U scores a lower single thread rating of 1950 compared to the 2728 of the newer i5. With it's fewer cores that equals a lowly Passmark of 3649.Do not be put of by a new laptop 'only' being an i5. Many of the new i5s are waaaaay faster than old i7s. Think of it in terms of an old 5.0 V8 putting out under 200 bhp compared to a new Mercedes AMG A45S kicking out over 400bhp from a 2.0 4 cylinder!

JOcean · Answer

This site has comparisons between your i7 and an i5 11600K (I chose that i5 randomly). The i7 is a 3.5 GHz Turbo vs the i5 5.0 GHz Turbo. The i5 should vastly outperform the i7. And this site has a more in depth comparison.

ejbpesca · Answer

Thanks for that information. I know I could have just compared clock speeds, but I was hoping to get an opinion from a real world user, not just a spec sheet and looks like I did. Now to make up my mind to go Mac Air M1 or another Inspiron. I had two defective Inspirons sent to me from Dell and I kept the second thinking I could get by but the fouled up charging port has now gotten worse to the point I expect it may totally fail soon. Too bad because the old i7 7500 has been the fastest I've ever had out of many machines, yet the reviews on the M1 MacBook are stellar and price has finally come down.

Thanks again.

Inspiron

What to expect from 11th gen i5 processor.

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