Is Broadwell's only (major) advantage over Haswell the lower power usage?

[tracerit]

My current laptop is 4 years old (P8400 2.2Ghz, 6GB DDR2 RAM, Crucial M4 SSD) and while the SSD helps, the lack of affordable expandable RAM upgrades and now seemingly slow CPU is getting to me.

I was planning on a Haswell laptop this summer but funds were directed to my car but now that they're back, Broadwell was announced. I could wait another year, but if the only advantage to Broadwell over Haswell is the lower power consumption, then I'll just grab a Haswell laptop now since i'm plugged in 95% of the time.

 

[tential]

It's a Tock improvement so I don't think it will be major. Don't play the waiting game as something new will ALWAYS be around the corner. IF you need a laptop get Haswell. I personally am waiting for Broadwell at this point because (I have the same CPU I think), I'm ALWAYS plugged in and rarely do anything CPU intensive. I have a 4770k for a reason, I might as well use it SOMETIMES lol.

 

[TuxDave]

No, it's not the only advantage.

 

[magomago]

I'd just get haswell. For years the people in CPU would orgasm over the though of haswell with all the marketing slides, and now that has shifted to broadwell...and it'll continue shifting forwards to the next thing that isn't out yet.

I'm just waiting for prices to be cheaper and then jump on one because haswell already shows great battery life

 

[Torn Mind]

Performance should not be very different between Broadwell and Haswell. The gains will primarily come from IPC while clockspeeds remain similar. Haswell offers superior graphics performance along with its excellent perf/watt. It seems that even the "U" chips can outdo your P8400 slightly, although I suggest getting a "typical" TDP chip for a more substantial performance gain.

 

[Wolfpup]

What do you use the system for? And do you need a new GPU?

For general stuff, a newer (full, not low voltage) CPU will definitely feel faster, but still I wouldn't call that CPU a joke. I'm typing on a system with the 2.4GHz equivalent right now! (And heck, it runs circles around Atom and it's equivalents, and ARM tablets, so...)

But of course if you encode video, or play games or the like, newer hardware will be even more important.

And yeah, I wouldn't bother waiting for broadwell. I'm always unimpressed with the U.S. Intel teams anyway...if things go as they have, the chip AFTER that will actually be impressive again...but regardless there's ALWAYS a new chip or refinement next year. If you're like a month or two out from the new CPU or GPU and can wait, then sure, but waiting a whole year? Makes no sense IMO if you need a system now.

And for that matter, my main system's Ivy Bridge quad + Geforce GTX 680 runs circles around most anything. The newest stuff's only marginally faster...and when the newest stuff is a year out...

 

[tracerit]

thanks for the replies. looks like haswell it is!

 

[frozentundra123456]

It's a Tock improvement so I don't think it will be major. Don't play the waiting game as something new will ALWAYS be around the corner. IF you need a laptop get Haswell. I personally am waiting for Broadwell at this point because (I have the same CPU I think), I'm ALWAYS plugged in and rarely do anything CPU intensive. I have a 4770k for a reason, I might as well use it SOMETIMES lol.

Don't you mean "tic"? Haswell was the tock--- a new architecture. Anyway, Broadwell is a shrink of haswell, so CPU performance will be similar, but igp may be improved. Not sure when it will be out, but amd's kaveri for mobile should be out in the next year as well. It could be interesting from an igp perspective, but I would expect Intel to still be pretty far ahead in CPU performance.

 

[386user]

i would expect the igp to be much better?

simply by fitting more EUs...

 

[sm625]

I'm not even sure why you'd want a haswell notebook. Ivy systems are much better priced and seem like the better deal for anyone who is plugged-in 95% of the time.

 

[corkyg]

It should fix Haswell's unexpected heat problems, especially noticeable in laptops.