<p>IMO, the I5-450M is better, unless you need/want Intel VT-d, TXT, or AES instruction set. They’re pretty useless, except for very specific tasks. Both support hardware virtualization; I’m not sure what VT-d is for though, it’s probably just an extension for hardware virtualization.</p>
<p>Performance wise, they’re approximately equivalent. The 450M has a wider system bus (DMI = 4.8 GT/s) than the 520M’s bus (DMI = 2.5 GT/s), but the 520M has higher turboboosted clockspeed. Bottomline, if you need those features listed above (most people dont need them), then get i5 520m. If not, then get i5-450M and save $100. according to benchmarks, they’re very similar. </p>
<p>Benchmark: [PassMark</a> - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs](<a href=“http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php]PassMark”>PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs)
Graph: [PassMark</a> CPU Lookup](<a href=“http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+450M+%40+2.40GHz]PassMark”>http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+450M+%40+2.40GHz)</p>
<p>More info, go here: [i5</a> 450 -VS- i5 520?](<a href=“TechnologyGuide - TechTarget”>TechnologyGuide - TechTarget)</p>