How does a Core i5-2520M compare to modern mobile CPUs?

[996GT2]

My laptop is a few years old and has a i5-2520M (2C/4T, 2.5 GHz → 3.2 GHz turbo). I've been looking at some of the newer laptops with Core M CPUs, but benchmarks tend to compare these to other current CPUs.

How would a Core M or a modern mobile i5/i7 compare to my old 2520M in terms of performance?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Iirc, a 2xxx (Sandy Bridge) should about 10% slower than a 4xxx (Haswell) series at the same clock.

So, compare a similar i5-4000 to the Core M and just bump the benchmarks down a tad.

If you're looking for an excuse to get a new laptop, CPU is rarely the reason. SSD compatibility, upgrading past your current RAM ceiling, USB 3, Bluetooth, nicer monitors/keyboards, battery life, failing battery life, used and abused machines that are smashed all to hell - that sort of stuff is usually what gets me to upgrade, not CPU performance.

 

[dark zero]

My laptop is a few years old and has a i5-2520M (2C/4T, 2.5 GHz → 3.2 GHz turbo). I've been looking at some of the newer laptops with Core M CPUs, but benchmarks tend to compare these to other current CPUs.

How would a Core M or a modern mobile i5/i7 compare to my old 2520M in terms of performance?

Actually Intel ditched the M tier class (for me the WORST mistake Intel ever made in their lives) and are only focusing on U tier (who is pure trash and decent in the best case) and H Tier (who is soldered, and doesn't last longer than M tier)

And in my honest opinion I compared the benchmark of my old warrior Intel Core i3 380M against the Core i3 4005U and the former defeats the latter in most benches!!

Assuming that your Core i5 M is Sandy Bridge (aprox 15% more then Nehalem), definately you can defeat any Core i5 U even Broadwell (to make it better it trade blows with them! http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-5200U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2520M )

And to make it better an i5M is as strong as an i7U but way cheaper BTW.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The i5 5200U is the lowest i5 part and 15W. The i5 2420M is a 35W part and upper top bin of its time. Intel didnt ditch the M class. It got renamed to U and H.

For the OP, its not so much raw CPU performance you gain. Maybe 20% with a top i5.

But you get massive battery life improvement, smaller and newer platform, better graphics with full decode etc.

 

[Raftina]

The M was a 25W class. It existed alongside U for the Ivy and Haswell generations.

CPU side:
Sandy 2520M is about the same as a Haswell 4200U at peak performance, but because of the Haswell's lower TDP, the 2520M is generally slightly better at long-term performance.

Broadwell Core Ms throttle very badly because of the low TDP and heat problems due to fanless designs. The 2520M will handily trounce the Core M in CPU tasks.

iGP:
The HD 3000 is far weaker than the iGP in Haswell U and Broadwell U--something like 1/3 the raw power. The Core M is weaker, but it's still something like nearly double the raw power.

Power efficiency:
Haswell U, Broadwell U, and Core M have much better power management and improved performance/watt. Unfortunately, there's a corresponding reduction in battery capacity to chase thin and light, so you won't see nearly as much of an improvement in battery life as you might think.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The M was a 25W class.

The CPU in question is 35W. I assume it was a typo.
http://ark.intel.com/products/52229/Intel-Core-i5-2520M-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz

M class CPUs have never been below 35W. But between 35 and 47W.

 

[dark zero]

The CPU in question is 35W. I assume it was a typo.
http://ark.intel.com/products/52229/Intel-Core-i5-2520M-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz

M class CPUs have never been below 35W. But between 35 and 47W.

Actually is "was" since Intel ditched the socketable mobile processor.
Well it was good while it lasted.
It didn't renamed to U or H.... because both existed before, but had other purpouses.

If the laptop doesn't have any dGPU, the Broadwell H is an option. Never but NEVER go to the U tier. Is wasting money liek crazy. However if the OP has a laptop with an AMD or nVIDIA dGPU is not worthy the upgrade. Better to wait to the True Quad Core (FINALLY on Skylake BTW ) and getting a SSD by the moment.

 

[996GT2]

I was looking at the Asus UX305 due to reasonable cost, good screen, 256GB SSD, and good battery life, but it seems like the Core M 5Y10 in that is significantly weaker than the i5 in my 4-year old laptop

 

[dark zero]

I was looking at the Asus UX305 due to reasonable cost, good screen, 256GB SSD, and good battery life, but it seems like the Core M 5Y10 in that is significantly weaker than the i5 in my 4-year old laptop

Yeah and despite the consumption is far lower, the performance suffers that fate too. :ninja:

 

[Raftina]

I was looking at the Asus UX305 due to reasonable cost, good screen, 256GB SSD, and good battery life, but it seems like the Core M 5Y10 in that is significantly weaker than the i5 in my 4-year old laptop

What are you using the laptop for?

The i5-2520M was not particularly suited to prolonged CPU intensive tasks, because it was rarely put into a chassis that was capable of dissipating that much heat. A i5-5300U will give you significantly improved energy management and iGP performance and comparable general computing performance--which may or may not be what you need.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I would agree with Raftina. Not really sure why the FUD regarding U series is suddenly being bandied about, but they give similar performance to previous M series processors at lower power consumption. The newer m series are very low power and will have lower performance than the cpu that you have, but are designed for long battery life and thin and light formfactors.


Edit: Here are the passmark scores for 2520M(your current cpu) an 5200U (typical U series Broadwell processor) and the 5Y10 in the asus you are looking at:
2520M = 3551 TDP = 35 watts
5200U = 3525 TDP = 15 watts
5Y10 = 2840 TDP = 4.5 watts

 

[996GT2]

What are you using the laptop for?

The i5-2520M was not particularly suited to prolonged CPU intensive tasks, because it was rarely put into a chassis that was capable of dissipating that much heat. A i5-5300U will give you significantly improved energy management and iGP performance and comparable general computing performance--which may or may not be what you need.

I have a Dell Latitude E6320. It does get hot under load, but it's usually able to maintain >2.5 GHz even under extended full load. To be honest, Even the 2520M feels slightly "slow" sometimes, despite the laptop having 8GB of RAM and a fast SSD. I guess it's not really fair to compare it to my desktop (specs below), but the 2520M does feel a bit laggy at times and seems to take noticeably longer to load certain webpages in Chrome than my desktop. I can't even imagine how a Core M would feel if my 2520M already feels a bit slow sometimes.

 

[hemedans]

These are passmark score between your CPU and best haswell, i5 4340m

Single thread
4340m = 2096
2520m = 1495

Multicore score
4340m = 4961
2520m = 3551

And these are the result of same clocked i5 haswell, 4200m

Single thread = 1664
Multicore score = 4070

 

[Raftina]

I have a Dell Latitude E6320. It does get hot under load, but it's usually able to maintain >2.5 GHz even under extended full load. To be honest, Even the 2520M feels slightly "slow" sometimes, despite the laptop having 8GB of RAM and a fast SSD. I guess it's not really fair to compare it to my desktop (specs below), but the 2520M does feel a bit laggy at times and seems to take noticeably longer to load certain webpages in Chrome than my desktop. I can't even imagine how a Core M would feel if my 2520M already feels a bit slow sometimes.

A few things that might help:
1. The OEM thermal paste for most OEMs (yes, that includes Apple, especially Apple) can best be described as a crime against CPU/GPUs. Grab the hardware maintenance manual for your model from Dell's website and repaste the heatsink. I just did so for my X61s and X220, and temps dropped by about 10 C.

This will help for your temps, but it doesn't really do anything for snappiness.

2. Chrome has an option for hardware acceleration. It is on by default. It often slows down performance. Try to turn it off and see if load times improve.

If it does not improve, an actual upgrade to the GPU might help, and the modern Broadwell/Skylake iGP on the U models are significant faster than the HD 3000 on the 2520M.

And, of course, the Haswell generation does have M model CPUs. The Latitude E6440 is more or less a direct successor to your E6320. It comes with Haswell M processors that should beat the 2520M in every way. Personally, I prefer a U processor as the best compromise between performance and battery life, but it in the end, your experience is what's most important, and it sounds like you value snappiness more than battery life.

 

[SPBHM]

I think it's a shame that they shifted the focus from 35W on the mainstream,

you could get good battery life from the 35W chips, and performance was less limited, and to make things worse in a lot of cases they use the lower TDP to sell worse batteries and not even give you the full advantage from the more efficient CPU...


so yes.. 2520M is good as CPU, but... the IGP, not really... even HD 4400 is a decent jump.

 

[996GT2]

A few things that might help:
1. The OEM thermal paste for most OEMs (yes, that includes Apple, especially Apple) can best be described as a crime against CPU/GPUs. Grab the hardware maintenance manual for your model from Dell's website and repaste the heatsink. I just did so for my X61s and X220, and temps dropped by about 10 C.

This will help for your temps, but it doesn't really do anything for snappiness.

Believe me, I would have done it already if it was easy. I've replaced the thermal paste on many Thinkpads before, but on this particular Dell, it's quite the involved process that involves removing just about everything attached to the motherboard, and then removing the motherboard itself. It's not like on most older Thinkpads where you could get access to the heatsink relatively easily.

But this computer is getting pretty old now, so I was thinking of replacing it with something lighter and thinner, with better battery life. I guess the best bet might be to wait a generation and see how the Asus UX305's successor performs.

 

[iamjohngalt]

996GT2,
I also have a Dell E6320 and relate to the sluggishness you experience compared to a desktop. Tradeoffs, always tradeoffs.
i found this thread when searching for a normal wattage spec on the 2520m cpu. I found the 35w TDP and a measured wattage for the cpu when its running at 100% of about 28w, but still haven't found one for "normal" office use.
On average BatteryBar tells me that my E6320 uses about 12 watts in normal use, and I get a fairly consistent 6 hours use to shutoff at 6% on my battery (73260mwh.)
This is a replacement 9 cell battery (Amazon aftermarket new $30.)
I wanted to compare the wattage of the 2520m to newer (e.g.,6200u) in normal use.
I guess I will just be happy that the Dell is still working as well as it has for 4 years, and that it is as well built, especially compared to so many flimsier newer laptop builds.
The heat factor on my laptop also concerns me, running above 50C most of the time.
Might have to open her up and reapply the heat compound despite the difficulty of doing so.

 

[wilds]

Ivy Bridge+ brought significantly sustained higher turbo speed at load and brought much better general battery life.

 

[996GT2]

The heat factor on my laptop also concerns me, running above 50C most of the time.
Might have to open her up and reapply the heat compound despite the difficulty of doing so.

I don't think the heat matters too much now that I've owned it for a while. My E6320 is coming up on 4 years old now and it is still running perfectly fine. It ran hot even after Dell had a tech come out and replace the thermal compound.

As far as performance and turbo clocks go, I find that my E6320 can turbo up to 3.0 GHz for a decently sustained period of time. With extremely heavy workloads it will settle between 2.6 and 2.8 GHz. I'd check yours with an app like CPU-Z and make sure it is able to reach the appropriate turbo clocks if it feels excessively slow to you.

It feels laggy compared to my desktop, but I do think it's a bit of an unfair comparison to compare a dual-core to a quad-core i7 overclocked to 5 GHz.

 

[Yuriman]

I'm pretty happy with my Haswell laptop's 10-12 hours real world battery life, despite being half as heavy as an older Sandy Bridge machine I have. Perceived performance (not benchmark numbers) is a little better on the Haswell machine - sustained performance might be a little lower, or no better, but bursty performance has improved significantly, resulting in a machine that's nicer to use.

 

[JeffMD]

I have an i7u and love it, it works great with my 745m and gives me enough power to do casual gaming with pretty much any modern game. It runs super cool and sips power. I would probably struggle if I was replacing a desktop, but as far as a secondary/portable pc goes, I love it. For me, heat(fan noise) and battery life are more important than raw power in a laptop.

Anyways, necro post is necro.

 

[tweakboy]

No comparison. i5 is for people that use desktop and use Word or Excel . thx gl