Do you have your Quad core laptop on order?

The next wave of processing power for laptops has begun.  OEM’s have been quietly adding laptops to their online buying configurators.  If you are curious about the specs for the processors, Intel has published the spec for the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300.  As you can see, they are positioning this processor as a gaming and multimedia notebook platform.

I would hope so.  This processor is faster than the Quad core processor in my Dell XPS 420.  Only slightly, but it’s there.  I can’t help but wonder though how these processors are really going to perform in the field, and how long they’ll last.  Can a laptop efficiently cool the chassis and prevent premature failure?

Up until this weekend, I didn’t know how much these babies were going to cost.  You can start to get a peek at that now.  For instance, you can go to Lenovo’s public internet site for the US and load up a Lenovo ThinkPad W700 for $5300.  Dell has yet to add the rumored Precision M6400 laptop to their website so it’s hard to get a feel for how the market will really start out since there aren’t that many makers with orderable configurations right now.  Just below is the config from the Lenovo buying site with no EPP or corporate discounts added.  One thing worth mentioning here.  There were no extended warranties offered.  I’m assuming this is a webmaster oversight and error.  You should not buy a machine like this with a 1 year warranty.

 

Developers that want a big screen laptop that compiles code fast are going to really dig this machine.  I would imagine there are several worker profiles that would be interested in a portable/luggable computer with this set of performance characteristics.  I have asked a lot of my DPE brethren why they like the big heavy Dell 17” laptop and answer was consistently the screen.  They would put up with the size and weight to get a portable screen with the real estate they need for Visual Studio.

In my particular case, I would only be interested in the CPU for video editing and transcoding.  Unfortunately for the portable workstation makers, I’ve already asked my employer to invest in a desktop class video editing workstation and it arrived last Friday.  More on that later. Keeping it a secret for the moment.

How much power do these machines consume?  Well the accessories area for the W700 provides an interesting clue.  Although the CPU itself is a new 45nm design, the power supply for the ThinkPad W700 is 170 watts.  That doesn’t really surprise me considering the machine has a big screen, multiple hard drives, a Blu-Ray internal burner option, digitizer option, etc.  It also has me wondering about the lap in laptop.  Will it be so toasty that you need a special laptop air conditioner?  I’m supposed to get a ThinkPad W700 evaluation unit for testing so I’ll defer that discussion until we’ve had a chance to see for ourselves.

Until then, come on Dell.  Spill the beans and publish the Precision M6400 Quad configuration and prices.  Inquiring minds are waiting.