Laptop question - what would you do?

[hoy128]

Hey guys,

Need some advise - what would you do if you were me?

I currently own a Sony Flip 14" running an i5 4200U, 8GB of ram, and upgraded 250GB SSD. I love this laptop, my only issue is that it tends to overheat and throttles the hell out of the CPU. I can get around the throttling by running throttlestop but I don't think I should need to do this every time i use the laptop. I was waiting for the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro to upgrade but seeing how the Y3P uses the M core processors, the benchmarks I've seen are very underwhelming. The Y3P is going for about $1300. On the flip side, the year old Yoga 2 Pro running an i7 is a little thicker (but still thin) than the Y3P and will be on sale for $999 at Bestbuy on Black Friday. I've decided I don't want the Y3P so my choice is to either stick with this Sony for another year or buy the Y2P. Would you guys rather get a year old laptop for a small performance boost from an i5 to an i7 minus the throttling issue or just deal with the sony for another year or so to see what else is on the horizon?

Here are the specs:
Sony Flip 14: i5 4200U, 8GB ram, 250gb SSD, 14" 1920x1080 screen <current laptop
Yoga 2 Pro: i7 4510U, 8GB ram, 256gb SSD 13.3" 3200x1800 screen <$999 on black friday sale at Bestbuy
Yoga 3 Pro: Core M-70, 8GB ram, 256gb SSD 13.3" 3200x1800 screen <$1299

Thanks in advanced!

Moved from General Hardware

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator

 

[Ken g6]

I would say there's nothing wrong with using ThrottleStop every time you use the laptop, as long as the CPU temperatures stay in a safe range. Preferably ~20c below the Tj max - but I'm a conservative overclocker. Do leave Power Saver on, though, so it can throttle down when not in use.

I'd also take a vacuum and/or canned air to the vents. (Probably in that order.)

 

[unclewebb]

Throttling in the newer laptops is mostly power consumption related and not temperature related, especially when using one of Intel's low powered U series CPUs. Different manufacturers use different throttling schemes so it is a real crap shoot when buying one of these. A 4200U in one device can end up running completely different than the same CPU in a different device due to a different throttling scheme.

Buyer beware with any U CPU in any device. You will need to do some thorough testing as soon as you open the box. Most consumers don't have a clue about these things until it is too late to return it.

ThrottleStop is very easy on system resources so if it can increase performance, why wouldn't you run it all the time? The latest version has some more features for Intel's 4th Gen CPUs.

ThrottleStop 7.00 beta 3

http://i.imgur.com/6kiTIdg.png

https://www.sendspace.com/file/oquhg3

 

[hoy128]

Thanks for the reply guys. I guess I'll just stick with this Sony till something else creeps out the woods next year. =D

 

[fire400]

i'd keep it unless you had the extra money to get something else that needs to run without any thermal issues whatsoever

install thermal paste and copper shim if you haven't done so already

keep speedfan 4.49 running on taskbar to check temps, 'cuz certain apps push the heat of the laptop and you'll be able to see 'what and when' status. when I run starcraft broodwar on a thinkpad Windows XP laptop after all the hardware/software tweaks, no matter what.. the PC just freaks out~ But under the exact same laptop on dual boot Windows 8.1 under the heaviest loads, it stays very temperature cool.

adjust "high performance" settings in battery options.
sometimes i disable speedstep-type/throttle technologies in bios, and might even replace (defective?) the fan, and just leave the system underclocked so it never throttles, if you're allowed to.

but you're experiencing some glitching on the OS cuz of lower performance settings in attempts to keep the system cool, - try installing a performance samsung SSD to make up for the loss.

if anything, some laptops just have terrible heat-dissipation/air-flow engineering or a specifically flawed motherboard, luck of the draw. Sony is kind of like Acer, and they just implement random sh!t into laptops that they think end-users might find "cool" with poor testing on their end, but Sony is a little more careful than Acer, but don't be surprised..