Ivy Bridge vs Haswell

[ajm123]

I've been looking for a nice laptop for college and the one I've decided I like the most so far is the Asus Zenbook Prime but the only problem is it has Ivy Bridge instead of Haswell, and the updated Zenbook Infinity with haswell is wayy too much money.Is there that much more performance/benefit with haswell? I just don't know If should look for another laptop with haswell because I don't want the ivy bridge CPU to be obselete in a year after buying it.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I've been looking for a nice laptop for college and <snip> I don't want the ivy bridge CPU to be obselete in a year after buying it.

1. Any computer you buy will have a performance depreciation value after a year. Obsolescence is a factor you can't avoid.
2. CPU architect obsolescence is probably a factor you shouldn't think of, when purchasing a device with low upgrade possibilities.

The only question is whether the device fits your current needs. If you focus on future needs, you will go insane trying to make a decision. If you know what your needs will be in a year, then you can make a decision based on those needs. If not, then I would only focus on current needs.

One last thing since Haswell is the latest offering from Microsoft, there will likely be a price premium on any device with Haswell. Devices with Ivy may have a slightly better price/performance value, based on the very notion of why you are asking this question.

 

[Darth Shiv]

There was a very significant power consumption improvement in Haswell moreso than performance improvement.

 

[St1ckM4n]

There was a very significant power consumption improvement in Haswell moreso than performance improvement.

..as such, you want a Haswell ultrabook. Better power consumption means you'll get a ton more performance in the same power envelope - which is very small in ultrabooks anyway.