i7 based notebooks now available
 

I don't know if I should post this on the news or here, but decided to put it here. New i7 notebooks out soon. For U$999 (Dell) one can have a fast editing machine on-the-go. The most expensive chip is U$1,000 so, the notebook will likely be priced near U$2,000 or so, maybe more if they put in high end gpus, 17" LCD, and other high end stuff.


AnandTech: Mobile Core i7 920XM, Clarksfield: Nehalem on-the-go

Intel Core i7 - Content Tagged as Intel Core i7


There will be compromises but for those doing SDE or want to have portability, this is good. As an event shooter and who travel often, I am looking forward to this. Batt life is not that good at full throttle but it seems stingy when idle or little work to do. I'm glad we didn't get the C2D quad notebooks. Perhaps this is the reason why they didn't release an C2D quads (except for MSI. Or Lenovo W series w/c are very expensive!).

Actually, Intel did release Core 2 Quad Mobile processors. As just one example, you can get them in HP HDX16 and HDX18 laptops. But for the top mobility processor, prepare to pay a stiff premium ($1000) and what you get for that performance wise won't be much more than a desktop Core 2 Q6600.

My own opinion is that Quad Core processors will take off in laptops when they are being fabbed with 32nm process technology. That's likely what it will take to get the power consumption down to a more reasonable level. And they will remain expensive for some time (years), largely because AMD is producing nothing remotely competitive and it's hard at this point in time to see when that might ever change.

On the move may be somewhat overdone when you look at the Alienware Area-51 M15X. Thickness around 2 inches and weight around 10 lbs with only a 15 inch screen. Price yet to be announced. Luggable is a term that comes closer than portable.

For sure, 32nm is needed to get power consumption in check. I think though, that if only for editing, it may be useful. It's really in the render phase that the cpu consumes a lot of power. For someone who will do SDE's, you're always plugged in anyway, so power is not the issue. And as far as editing goes, as long as you are editing only and not rendering, the power consumption can still be low and will extend battery life.

BTW, these are not C2D quads. These are the i7 quads, so speed improvements are not in the range of the older quads. Also, I've been using my C2D 2.0ghz notebook for 3 years for onsite stuff, and as far as editing goes, it works, even with h.264 files with some adjustments in rez using Sony Vegas. However, it's the rendering that eats up time and any quad will help cut down that time to about half. It's still good to know we are inching into the "ideal" notebook editing station especially if it can be had for U$999. I paid U$1,500 for my dell 1505, 2.0ghz c2d with 1gb ram, 15" 1580 x 1050 LC, 120gb 5400 rpm HD, 3 years ago, and I am still using it now and if it were not for the longer render times, I would be contented with it.

What about Sager Laptops?
 

Why does no one seem to know about Sager laptops? I've had my 8662 for about 4 months and am very happy with it. CUDA supported video card, 2.6 Montevina processor, and DDR3 ram. Alienware buy their parts from the same Taiwanese based company, Clevo, as Sager and Sager is way cheaper. I have been able to run CS4 suite without any issue.

Yes, Sager works well for me. I have had my Sager NP9262 for almost 18 months now.
(Desktop quad cpu, and 3 internal harddrives).
Can recommend this for editing.
Noteworthy: Buying Sager notebooks/laptops from resellers might give better warranty than buying directly from Sager.