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Intel Core i5-5200U 2.2GHz

Bryan Kortez

Bryan Kortez

Bryan Kortez

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I am looking at getting a laptop for work which will mainly be for solidworks and similar programs. A lot of the laptops I have seen have the Intel Core i5-5200U 2.2GHz processor in them. How well do this processors perform?

I will be going with 16GB ram and a SSD.
 
Bryan Kortez said:
I am looking at getting a laptop for work which will mainly be for solidworks and similar programs. A lot of the laptops I have seen have the Intel Core i5-5200U 2.2GHz processor in them. How well do this processors perform?

I will be going with 16GB ram and a SSD.
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I can't speak for the i5s, but the i3U processors are terrible.

The 2.1GHz Broadwell ones in our latest batch of HP laptops at work are significantly slower (as in around 70% of the speed) than the 2.4GHz non-U Haswell ones in our last batch.

They're so bad that the performance is similar to Sandy Bridge i3 laptops from several years ago!

I would imagine the same would apply to i5s, even with their turbo they're going to be severely constrained by the low TDP.

If at all possible, I'd urge going with a non-U processor, especially as you plan to use Solidworks.

NB, Passmark scores:

Intel Core i5-5200U @ 2.20GHz 3,506
Intel Core i5-4200M @ 2.50GHz 4,071 (Bottom-of-the-range i5 from the previous generation - the CPU actually costs less to the manufacturer than the Broadwell U chips!)

There *is* a single decent Broadwell mobile i5 - the Core i5-5350H, which is a 47W part running at 3.1GHz.

It's also worth bearing in mind that as of Skylake mobile i5s are available as genuine quad-core parts - these would be worth looking out for, as the OEM chip cost is around the same as the heavily power limited Broadwell U chips.

EDIT - And it's really quite irritating. Almost without exception, the major brands have moved to the U parts for their mainstream laptops, doubtless because it means they can make slightly thinner laptops and get away with 3-cell batteries and 45W PSUs, which cuts the cost. That cost saving isn't being passed on though!
 
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That's a pain. I'm always put off by the processors in laptops as they just seem so slow for doing anything. Don't really want to go over the £1000 mark if I can help it.

My idea was to get a laptop that I could connect to my Synology VPN on, and work remotely on a laptop that actually works.
 
Looks good. Only 2 cores though.. Processor Cores: 2 (4 Threads)

Got confused when I went to the link. Didn't realise the OCUK website has changed
 
What are you going to use SW for? Generally it's not all that demanding until you're doing large assemblies, simulations or rendering.

My ancient 2010 Macbook Pro (i5-540M @2.5Ghz, 8GB ram, SSD) with W10 under bootcamp still runs SW2016 no problem for part modelling, small assembles and simple static simulations. For the most part it doesn't "feel" any slower than my workstation (HP Z620, dual hexacore xeons), but give it a non-linear FEA and it just sits there getting hot.

Ultimately if you are planning on doing any remotely complex simulations or rendering then you're going to be very disappointed with any mobile CPU.

Bear in mind that solidworks is really poor at threading, 99% of the time it'll be using 2 cores at the most. I use NX on my workstation as well and it blows solidworks out of the water on performance.
 
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