i5-2450M vs i5-3210M

[Lnicol]

I've ordered a skyfire II laptop but the i5-2450M is currently out of stock. I looked at the different options and the i5-3210M can be chosen. The laptop is 2 pounds cheaper with this CPU instead of the sandy bridge. I've compared them on various websites but they look essentially the same...

Can someone explain what the difference is and if it's worth it?#



Edit: Just realised there's a 5 quid charge for amending my order as it's already in the building phase even though the cpu is out of stock. So I won't be changing unless it's a good reason!

 

[Big_Rich]

For all intents and purposes they are identical. Same cache, same clock speed, same turbo boost capabilities.

The Ivy Bridge supports 32Gb of 1600Mhz ram, the Sandy Bridge "only" 16Gb of 1333Mhz. Of course you need Win7 Ultimate to use anymore than 16Gb of RAM anyway, but it's worth mentioning.

Personally I would have chosen the Ivy Bridge CPU, leaving you much more headroom for future upgrades than sticking with Sandy Bridge.