Web Dev's Guide to Laptop i5 Processors June 8, 2020

If you are shopping for a laptop that's powered by Intel Core processors, this article might provide some new ways to evaluate the hardware requirements that are unique to web developers.

We focus on Core i5 processors over the last 8 generations, as there is no obvious gain to have more than 4 cores in a typical web dev environment. Based on the laptop offerings on Amazon.com at the time of writing, we have painstakingly compiled the following chart, so that at a glance, you can form a reasonable expectation on an i5 processor.

Despite a large variety of Core processor models, only a handful are selected and made into mass produced laptops. The above chart uses the data from UserBenchmark.com to plot the relative performance change with respect to Core i5-3210M. 

Some interesting observations:

The 4th generation i5 was introduced in 2014. This was when Intel started using the U designation for the low powered processors. Practically speaking, "U" stands for under powered, or underwhelming. For someone who upgrades from a i5-3320M to i5-4200M, there is no noticeable gain. The unlucky buyers who picked either i5-4200U or i5-4300U would experience even worse performance. In fact, it took two more years before purchasing a new laptop became a worthy investment.

Should I wait to buy?

In the 90s when computing hardware was improving at light speed, the Moore's Law was commonly misquoted to form the anticipation that the computer you buy today is instantly outdated tomorrow. If the cost of hardware halves and computing power doubles each year, it makes sense to hold off the acquisition. At the same time, each purchase was worth the wait because, man, the new computer really is a leap ahead.

Looking at the 4-core performance over the past 8 years, the growth is far from exponential. Some computer salesperson even share the "wisdom" of upgrading Intel Core every second year. Why is that?

The rule of thumb was probably seeded from the disappointing 2014. Had a 4th generation user waited for two years, the i5-6300U would be just fast enough to shine.