Is the advertised spec wrong? (processor speed)

[chumpington]

So I just bought this:

http://shop.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/ideapad/flex/flex-14/

(the £599 one)

It says i5 2.5ghz, but I've just fired it up and device manager / PC info reports 1.6mhz.

I even called to check about this issue before I bought it, and I was told 2.5ghz was the default speed and it could turbo-boost to 3.2ghz.

So before I go complaining to them that the advertised spec is wrong, am I missing anything? Is it 1.6ghz but somehow automatically goes to 2.5ghz or... something?

Thanks in advance

 

[red_stapler]

At idle you'll probably see a lower speed than 2.5ghz, unless speedstep is turned off in the BIOS. Try running prime95 or something that puts a load on the CPU and see what frequency it speeds up to.

 

[Chetkigaming]

in your link there write 1600mhz so its mean its without tb

 

[eidairaman1]

Run aida32

 

[TRWOV]

The 1.6Ghz speed is due to Intel's SpeedStep which is an energy saving scheme. Once you run a heavy load on the processor it will speed up to 2.5Ghz (and beyond if thermals allow it). If you want to disable SpeedStep set the Power Plan to High Performance.

 

[eidairaman1]

The 1.6Ghz speed is due to Intel's SpeedStep which is an energy saving scheme. Once you run a heavy load on the processor it will speed up to 2.5Ghz (and beyond if thermals allow it). If you want to disable SpeedStep set the Power Plan to High Performance.

Same thing when on battery power

 

[chumpington]

So the message seems to be that the spec is not wrong, then? It would seem a little dishonest, would it not, to advertise 2.5, and not say that, in fact, most of the time it will be running at 1.6, no?

I don't know what aida32 is...

Thanks.

 

[RCoon]

So the message seems to be that the spec is not wrong, then? It would seem a little dishonest, would it not, to advertise 2.5, and not say that, in fact, most of the time it will be running at 1.6, no?

I don't know what aida32 is...

Thanks.

Spec is correct. During idle it will lower the speed to something that uses less power. It's doing you a favor by saving you electricity. When you actually do something that puts a load on the CPU, it will go up to it's advertised speed and use power as normal.

 

[Aquinus]

Spec is correct. During idle it will lower the speed to something that uses less power. It's doing you a favor by saving you electricity. When you actually do something that puts a load on the CPU, it will go up to it's advertised speed and use power as normal.

2.5Ghz is your non-boost clock. The 4200M boosts up to 3.1Ghz, but you won't ever see it unless you're doing something that needs it and if you have the thermal overhead to do it.

 

[Peter1986C]

So the message seems to be that the spec is not wrong, then? It would seem a little dishonest, would it not, to advertise 2.5, and not say that, in fact, most of the time it will be running at 1.6, no?

I don't know what aida32 is...

Thanks.

If it does not need to be at full speed, it takes it easy. Would it be "false advertising" if your car is driving over a parking lot while you seek a spot, and you are not using the car at its "advertised" highway speed? I really do not see why you are whining about this, honestly.

 

[pigulici]

The advert it is not fare, at least in my country most of store write 2 fileds, "base clock" and "turbo clock", that way you know what you buy...because of this, in our days if you want to buy something you must make some research first(from car to xerox paper..)...

 

[brandonwh64]

dowmload prime95 and cpuz. load both and watch the CPU go from 1.6 to max speed as the load is applied

 

[CJCerny]

Sounds like you have a i5-4200U processor rather than a i5-4200M processor. They are quite different in terms of clock speed. 4200U is 1.6-2.6. 4200M is 2.5-3.1. Device Manager in Windows should show you exactly which model CPU it has.

 

[red_stapler]

Clock speed on my 2520M is 2.5GHz, but as you can see it will vary based on load.

 

[Peter1986C]

The advert it is not fare, at least in my country most of store write 2 fileds, "base clock" and "turbo clock", that way you know what you buy...because of this, in our days if you want to buy something you must make some research first(from car to xerox paper..)...

2.5GHZ when processing power is needed, turbo when processing power is needed and heat output is below a certain maximum, 1.6 GHz when it is idling. Get some clue about power management. You clearly did not comprehend my previous post at all.

Oh and that "base clock" you talk about is not even called as such, the base clock is the clock speed of the Integrated Memory Controller. Read up some articles on Wikipedia on computing, especially how CPUs and Power Management work, before you act like a "I know better than you" kind of dude.

Edit: well, you are not the OP sorry for that. But still you are spreading misinformation and that is a bad thing too (@pigulici).

 

[eidairaman1]

op being a tool now smh

 

[TRWOV]

So the message seems to be that the spec is not wrong, then? It would seem a little dishonest, would it not, to advertise 2.5, and not say that, in fact, most of the time it will be running at 1.6, no?

I don't know what aida32 is...

Thanks.

It's due to an energy saving scheme which you can disable. I don't see what's dishonest about it, the CPU just lowers its speed when it's not needed. Do you rev up your car to its max RPMs when at a stop light? No, of course you don't. Your CPU is doing the same thing.