How much performance gap between laptop i5 and i7?

[op3l]

I mean in general. Is the i7 quad core and i5 dual core?

Reason I'm asking is I'm in the market for a new laptop. Main uses are for office work, light gaming(TF2 or battle field 3), and some autocad drawings. I will be getting a dedicated video card with at least 1gb memory and plenty of RAM. But I have no clue if getting the i7 would be wasted for my uses?

Thanks for response.

[Berserker Cronus]

As far as laptop gaming is concerned you want an i7. Unlike the desktop i5, the laptop versions are not true quad cores.

[Sarevoc]

As far as laptop gaming is concerned you want an i7. Unlike the desktop i5, the laptop versions are not true quad cores.

What does this mean? The only difference I know regarding quad cores is, that there are some with Hyper Threading and some without.
Haven't seen a mobile i5 quad core at all, unless you count Hyper Threading as two additional cores, but then my Desktop CPU would be a 8-core, as my task manager tells me ^^

[vesseblah]

What does this mean? The only difference I know regarding quad cores is, that there are some with Hyper Threading and some without.
Haven't seen a mobile i5 quad core at all, unless you count Hyper Threading as two additional cores, but then my Desktop CPU would be a 8-core, as my task manager tells me ^^

How to read Intel mobile processor model numbers:

i5-xxxxM = dual core with HT (equal to desktop i3)
i7-xxxxM = dual core with HT (equal to desktop i3)
i7-xxxxQM = quad core with HT (equal to desktop i7)
i7-xxxxXM = quad core with HT (equal to desktop i7 extreme editions, ie. +$500 price for small gain)

Note that there is no quad core without HT in the lineup, so nothing directly compares to desktop i5.

[op3l]

How to read Intel mobile processor model numbers:

i5-xxxxM = dual core with HT (equal to desktop i3)
i7-xxxxM = dual core with HT (equal to desktop i3)
i7-xxxxQM = quad core with HT (equal to desktop i7)
i7-xxxxXM = quad core with HT (equal to desktop i7 extreme editions, ie. +$500 price for small gain)

Note that there is no quad core without HT in the lineup, so nothing directly compares to desktop i5.

Ah, that puts it nicely for me. Thanks for the clarification!