Buy Core I5 Laptop
Intel Core i5 processors are ideal for folks who want solid performance for a great price, as they're less expensive than more premium options like i7 or i9 processors but are also significantly more performant than Intel's budget-class i3 CPUs. This balance has made the processors very desirable, and thus, there are tons of great mid-range laptops on the market that are equipped with Core i5 chips. Our favorite is the HP Pavilion 15 since it has quality specs, a premium design, and a good price, but there are plenty of other excellent options for best Core i5 laptop available as well.
buy core i5 laptop
The HP Pavilion 15 offers a superb balance between performance, design, and price. It comes with a reliable 11th Gen i5-1135G7 processor, Intel's impressive Xe integrated graphics, 8GB of memory, and up to a 512GB SSD for storing files. The laptop's 15.6-inch micro-edge FHD touch display is nice, too, as it gets sufficiently bright and features great viewing angles and a fairly wide color gamut. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are supported as well, giving you access to some of the best connectivity available. The 7-hour battery life falls a bit short of its advertised 8 hours, but it will still be good enough for most people.
Design-wise, the HP Pavilion 15 is as sleek and slim as many pricier premium Ultrabooks. The keyboard and trackpad are both durable and comfortable to use, and the inclusion of a USB-C port as well as dual USB-A ports means that you'll have no difficulty hooking up peripherals. The 720p webcam is good, too, making the HP Pavilion 15 a good choice if you often find yourself in video meetings. Overall, this is one of the best mid-range Core i5 laptops that money can buy, even if the battery life could be a little better.
While Core i5 chips are typically reserved for mid-range devices, they are available in some top-of-the-line Ultrabooks as well. Enter the Dell XPS 13 Plus, a stunning device that represents the best of Dell's premium XPS laptop lineup. With it, you can pair a i5-1240P CPU with Intel Xe graphics, up to 16GB of DDR5 memory, and up to 2TB of SSD storage. The 13-inch FHD display is nothing short of gorgeous, featuring a stellar peak brightness of 500 nits, excellent contrast, and an amazing range of colors. Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and an excellent battery life of up to 14 hours round out the laptop's impressive specs.
In terms of design, the Dell XPS 13 Plus is arguably the best laptop on the market. Its keyboard is incredibly comfortable to use and features bright backlights, while its excellent trackpad is incredibly well built and is also quite large, making it very easy to mouse with. Dell includes dual Thunderbolt 4 ports for connecting accessories such as the best laptop docking stations, and Dell even includes a USB-C to USB-A converter in the box that you can use to hook up USB-A peripherals if needed. Aside from the high price, the only downside is that there isn't a 3.5mm audio port on the device, though Dell does include a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adapter in the box. Overall, despite the lack of 3.5mm audio support, there's no doubt in our minds that this is the best premium Core i5-equipped laptop available.
Most convertible laptops available today feature Core i7 chips, but the excellent Lenovo Yoga 7i also has a few configurations available with a Core i5 chip. You can pair a i5-1135G7 with Intel Xe graphics, up to 12GB of memory, and up to 512GB of SSD space. The 14-inch FHD touch display has a solid brightness of 300 nits and has decent contrast as well as great colors, though it's reflective and can be difficult to use outdoors due to sun glare. The device also has a solid 8-9 hours of battery life, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.0 support.
The laptop also features a sleek design with full 360-degree rotation on the display and rounded edges that are both comfortable and stylish. You also get dual Thunderbolt 4 ports and a USB-A port, which is great for a convertible device in this price range. The keyboard is excellent, but the trackpad can be a little unresponsive at times. Despite this and the device's reflective display, though, the Lenovo Yoga 7i is nevertheless a great convertible we wholeheartedly recommend.
All laptops are great for mobile computing, but few devices available with Core i5 configurations are like the Acer Swift 3X. This 14-inch device is one of the most portable laptops on the market thanks to its incredibly thin and light design, yet the performance for most productivity workloads is still great thanks to its i5-1135G7 processor, Intel Xe graphics, 8GB of memory, and 512GB of SSD storage space. The FHD display has great colors, 330 nits of peak brightness, and a matte finish that makes it enjoyable to use outdoors as well. The 9-10-hour battery life is respectable, and the connectivity benefits of Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are great as well.
The Acer Nitro 5 is one of the best Core i5-equipped gaming laptops on the market, and while some people won't appreciate the device's unapologetically "gamer" aesthetic, everyone will love the Acer Nitro 5's strong specs and performance. Between its powerful i5-11400H CPU, its excellent NVIDIA GTX 1650 or RTX 3050 Ti, its 16GB max memory, and its max 512GB of SSD storage, the Acer Nitro 5 is a stellar device for 1080p gaming. The 15.6-inch FHD 144Hz display looks awesome, too, featuring great brightness, vivid colors, and strong contrast. The 7-hour battery life is solid as well, especially for a gaming laptop. The battery will drain rapidly when actually gaming, though, so you'll need to keep the charger on hand.
The design of the laptop is unique in that it's aggressively angular with lots of sharp edges, and it also has its trackpad placed on the left of the keyboard surface instead of the center. The keyboard and trackpad themselves are quality, and there are three USB-A ports as well as a single USB-C. The device is a little bulky and has a blurry webcam, but ultimately, the Acer Nitro 5 is one of the best Core i5-equipped gaming laptops out there.
Want the performance of a Core i5 in a more budget-friendly device? Look no further than the Dell Inspiron 15 3000, which is one of the best budget laptops currently available. You can configure it with a 10th Gen i5-1035G1 or an 11th Gen i5-1135G7, and it also features Intel UHD graphics, up to 12GB of memory (we recommend choosing 8GB to save some money), and up to 512GB of SSD storage. The 15.6-inch display is a bit dim and doesn't have the widest color gamut out there, but it still looks good overall and gets the job done. What more can you ask from a budget laptop? It also has a decent battery life of around 7 hours and supports Bluetooth 5.0, though it lacks Wi-Fi 6 compatibility.
In terms of its design, the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 has a relatively slim design that isn't as snazzy as what you'll get with more premium devices, but it's still compact and easy to carry. The keyboard is comfortable to use, though it doesn't have backlighting. Aside from some loose corners, the trackpad is nice as well. The device also features three USB-A ports, which is great. We'd have liked to see a USB-C slot, too, but its absence isn't a huge deal. Overall, despite the compromises that come with choosing a laptop like this, the Dell Inspiron 15 3000 is nevertheless a fantastic Core i5 budget laptop.
Devices that feature Intel's Core i5 processors are some of the best mid-range laptops available, and while we have plenty of favorites, we feel the best overall Core i5 device on the market right now is the HP Pavilion 15. With that said, you shouldn't overlook any of the alternatives we highlighted here, as all of them are excellent in their own way.
If none of the options in this list appeals to you, make sure you check out our roundup of the best Windows laptops. If you'd prefer devices that have more power under the hood and don't mind paying extra, you should also review our list of the best Core i7 Windows laptops.
Not every laptop can be an Intel Evo laptop. Designs that earned the Intel Evo badge passed rigorous quality standards and thousands of real-world tests to be ready to keep up with you, giving you the reliable high performance, you need without compromise.
Verified, measured and tested against a premium specification and Key Experience Indicators as part of Intel's laptop innovation program Project Athena. Testing results as of August 2020, and do not guarantee individual laptop performance. Power and performance vary by use, configuration and other factors.
Time taken to drain from 100% to critical battery level while performing workflows under a typical-use environment comprising multiple cloud-based and local apps and web pages including Google Chrome*, Google G-Suite*, Microsoft Office 365*, YouTube* and Zoom*, including limited periods of non-use. Testing conducted on laptops connected to 802.11 wireless, and with shipped hardware configurations including Windows* 10 and 250-nit LCD screen brightness. Testing results as of August 2020, and do not guarantee individual laptop performance. Power and performance vary by use, configuration and other factors.
For many consumers on the hunt for a new desktop or laptop PC, one of the biggest considerations is the type of processor the system should have. Two of the CPU families most often in contention in mainstream systems are the Intel Core i5 and the Intel Core i7. And that makes picking tricky, because the two lines have a lot in common.
Simply put, a Core i5-equipped system will be less expensive than a Core i7-equipped PC, if all else is equal. But in most cases, if you're comparing apples to apples (that is, a desktop chip to a desktop chip, or a laptop chip to a laptop chip, and the same generation to the same generation), the Core i5 will have fewer, or dialed-down, capabilities. A Core i7 will typically be better for multitasking, media-editing and media-creation tasks, high-end gaming, and similar demanding workloads. Often, though, the price difference will be small, so it's worth playing around with the online configurator of whatever PC you're buying to see if you can afford a Core i7-powered machine. 041b061a72