OfficeMax actually has an HP on sale with the i5 that's cheaper than the HP with the i3 I'm looking at. The i5 has turboboost to 3.5 GHz, while the i3 is a flat 3.9.You could probably get away with the i3. The i5 would probably last a bit longer for multitasking but you'll probably be upgrading again anyway by then.
What's the cost difference?
Not really, but getting a 8th gen CPU would be no significant improvement, especially since they're just using it for web browsing and Office.Why getting last gen CPU? Are they much cheaper then 8th gen?