basic difference between i5 and i7 processors? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
Core i3 and core i5 processors. What is the difference? What do I choose?

I am planning to buy an HP desktop, all the features are nice as far as I know but it doesn't have the latest i7 processors instead it has the Intel Core i5 quad-core processors.

Well, I am not an electronics guy so I would like to know does it really makes a big difference if I don't go for the i7 processor.

based on the differences between these two processors, is buying i5 going to be a bad idea as compared to i7 considering the performance of the PC.

The big difference is Hyper-threading.

If you do not use a lot of "Threaded" applications which take advantage of this then get an i5 and save some cash.

Hyper-threading usually boosts the performance by around 20% if all threads are being used. At the moment unless your running lots of applications at once, doing large image processing through a program like Photoshop or video encoding then there would be little advantage in buying an i7 over an i5.

It might be worth investing more money in getting a faster (GHz) i5 than a slower (GHz) i7 :)

edit: overheating is not something to worry about in this case as and i5 or i7 with stock coolers run pretty cool.

The i5 is of decent speed and value, if the i7 is a considerable amount more than the i5 then I'd go for the i5.

The i7 is usually a Quad core, split into 8 threads. This uses something called hyperthreading technology.

I have a i7 Laptop and even though it is very fast, I can think I can do with an i5 instead.

Hope I've helped.

There is unified socket and chipset, a turbo boost and new hyper threading. Here you can find a a quick run down.