- i5-1135G7
- i7-1165G7
- i7-1185G7
0 voters
Why: price. Insufficient sustained load performance difference to justify increased cost to the i7 in my mind. Save that money for the next mainboard upgrade instead…
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Initially an i7-1165G7, then an i5 for the family machine. I run a lot of VMs so I went for the i7 on my personal machine.
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I went with the i5.
For me, I don’t buy Intel products in general. I don’t keep track of the various Intel model numbers or options, and any choice was going to be a (admittedly long-term) temporary choice until an AMD cpu was available.
That being said, I had decided ahead of time on a specific budget and opted for 64gb RAM, larger NVME and multiple modules instead of bumping up to an i7.
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i5 because my main use for it is as a thin client.
I’ve found that the i5 still packs quite a bunch though, at least in the benchmark in Mathematica.
is it not at least slightly bottlenecked by the i5?
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I don’t know if the +$300 price of the i7 is really justifiable, but I went with it as a treat to myself. I also intend to put some heavier loads on this machine, and I didn’t want to risk the CPU being a bottleneck with the very fast and large quantity of RAM and SSD.
I’ve mentioned before, though, that I’m very impressed that Framework can deliver a laptop with 32 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD for only $1,200 if you choose the i5… The few competitors seem to start at $2,000.
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Without an i7 to compare it to, that’s a bit hard to answer. The 64gb definitely helps with the code compilation, docker and microk8s though.
The cheapest option. Saves money + longer battery life.
Computers are aleady overpowered today anyways. It’s the software that’s crappy. Use the right software and you can make any processor sing.
3 Likes
I opted for the midrange 1165G7 Core i7.
I didn’t see much need for vPro, or high res video recording of the high end i7. The additional 16 “GPU Execution Units” on the i7s over the i5 did look appealing to squeeze out a little extra performance on the graphics side. I also liked the idea of the Framework being an i7 machine.
3 Likes
I went with the midrange I7. I was trying to future proof by getting something I hope will run the software I need for the next 10 years - but I found the high end I7 a little too pricey. The midrange I7 was just right for me. I’m retired and spend 8 hours a day on the market (ok - so maybe that’s not everyone’s idea of retirement!) so my software needs are running investment analysis software and some very large spreadsheet models. I have 32gb of RAM and 2TB of disc - so feel well prepared for this. Most of my work is done on a much larger desktop machine (with 5 large monitors) - so the laptop is more for travel purposes - ie running the models and tracking performance as opposed to developing new models. While travelling I also do a lot of back country stuff so use the laptop when I return to wherever I am staying and do some 3d interpretation of GPS data from my trips (largely using the Garmin 3d presentation software - this part is for fun (not work) though!)
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I chose an i5 myself as I figured if I wanted something better down the line just buy a new mainboard. Plus I can always use Parsec to my Desktop if I need more power but figured more ram and disk space would be better for now
i7-1165G7 since the GPU improvement was worth it
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Got the i5 because I don’t think the small improvements for the i7-1165G7 would be worth the extra money. With Alder lake coming to laptops soon and a possible ARM revolution in the laptop industry because of how efficient the Apple M1 family is, I’m also expecting 11th gen Intel to become obsolete very, very quickly.
I don’t need the more power hungry i7, would rather it had longer battery life. 
i7-1165G7 Slight idea of future requiements over i5
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This. Also I strongly disapprove of i7s in laptops because of the additional heat that in my experience laptops have difficulty getting rid of fast enough. price came into it as well, intel are horribly overpriced, especially when the i7 produces more heat and doesn’t actually perform significantly better than the i5.
I didn’t want an intel laptop at all, I wanted (and still want) an AMD one, but I felt that frameworks’ ideals merited support.
I originally looked at the i7 1185G7 CPU, since I might have used this device for work in a production environment. However, on further inspection, I realized that (at the time) the AX210 vPro WFi 6 card was not supported properly by many distros or had some other problems that hadn’t been accounted for yet. Plus, it was an extra $200 for maybe 5% better performance due to higher clock speeds. Not worth the additional cost.
I decided to go with the i7 1165G7 instead, since it strikes the right balance of performance and battery life for me, plus it comes with the same Intel Iris Xe 96EU package as the 1185G7. If I intend this device to be my primary mobile workstation for the next several years (even accounting for motherboard upgrades), I want to get as much value for my money as possible.
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I bought the i5 DIY thinking (like many others I suspect) the additional cost and possible power drain of an i7 wouldn’t be worth it and that I didn’t need a vPro. ~5 months in, I’ve been quite happy with the i5 so far, but since I’ve been using it mostly plugged in, I wonder if the i7 1165G7 wouldn’t have been a good choice.