Core i7 Mobile was released on 9/23 and is getting great reviews and I’m in the market for a new laptop. I’m waiting till Windows 7 but I’ve started looking around. As far as I can tell only Alienware and Asus are offering Core i7 Mobile products right now and I don’t love either product. I’m wondering if anyone knows whether more laptops with i7 will be available by the 22nd when Win7 comes out?
It typically takes several months after a new microchip is released before it starts to show up in mass-produced computers. Especially if it’s a new design, rather than just a faster or less-power-using version of an existing design.
It takes a while for companies to design a new computer around the chip, with motherboards, power supplies, memory, and all the appropriate parts. Also, the companies have a inventory of computers & designs using the old chip, and a supply of parts for making them. They want to keep on selling those until the inventory is gone.
Some specialized companies (like those you mentioned) will try to be first to market with machines using the newest microchip. They start designing their new computer while the chip is still in development & testing, using the tentative specs put out by the chip maker. (That’s a risk; sometimes the actual chip changes a bit by the time it reaches production.) But they can charge high prices, for having the newest chip in them. There are always some people willing to pay more for the newest item.
I think the production ramp-up is quite significant when it comes to CPUs, especially when you’re switching fab processes. That means that fewer examples are available, and for higher cost, early in the production cycle, whereas a few months after retail release, they’re cranking them out quite speedily.
Dell has i7 processors available in pretty much its entire laptop line.
Are you certain? Their website doesn’t show that.