Core i7 Laptops: Early Tests Of Quad-Core Chip Say It’s Real Fast

Looks like Core i7 could dominate laptops the way it has desktops. We should see the chips in new machines at next week’s Intel Developers Conference, but PC Pro has already tested the mid-range quad-core 1.73GHz i7-820QM, and they’re impressed.

The UK Magazine’s test laptop was a 16-incher with modest specs: 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 5400rpm hard disk, Nvidia GeForce GT240M graphics, and a 32-bit Vista install.

So they were surprised when it almost matched the results of the their top-performing laptop to date: a much higher-specified Dell Precision M6400 Covet with a 2.53GHz Core 2 Quad QX9300, twice the RAM, faster 7200rpm hard disk, high-end Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M graphics and 64-bit Vista OS.

PC Pro’s write-up also digs into the i7-820QM’s heat and power saving efficiencies, and sums things up as follows:

Price may yet prove to be a stumbling block, especially for the quad-core models, but going by the reasonable cost of Intel’s desktop-based Lynnfield platform upon which the mobile i7 platform is based, we can keep our fingers crossed that the forthcoming dual-core CPUs will bring all the i7′s benefits – Turbo Boost and Hyper-Threading included – to laptops of all prices, shapes and sizes.

[PC Pro]