Info about Intel i3, i5, i7 - brighthub.com

[office politics]

good write up describing intel i3 i5 and i7 procs.

Core i3 vs i5 vs i7: Intel's Processors Explained

It is generally accepted that the Core i5 750 remains the best overall value out of all the processors in the Core lineup. The Core i5 750 offers performance which is surprisingly close to the Core i7 processors in most situations. The Core i3 and Core i5 600 series products are not slow, but because the price gap is so small it usually makes sense to go for the Core i5 750.


In fact, Intel's Core i3 processors are up against stiff competition from not only Intel's faster processors but also from AMD's budget quad cores, which offer similar or better performance at a slightly lower price. The wild card, however, is energy consumption. If you're concerned about how much energy your computer uses you'll prefer the Core i3 processors as they are much more efficient.

 

[PP Mguire]

Ive been saying this for a year straight about the i5 750. And to argue the i3s sake, i put it against my old 940be and it was better at everything except video encoding / folding, consumed less power, and the i3 put off way less heat due to being 32nm. Granted neither where stock but for the most part my thing (at the time) was on a budget quad != better all the time.