I've heard the new i7 is the way to go for the future. I'm not into gaming or listening to music or playing dvds on my laptop but am thinking of getting the Qosmio because of the speed and the way things are heading in technoogy in the future. I have a small business and when I go away would take this to keep up to date with basic necessary business matters. My main computer would still be my desktop. Would the Qosmio be a good laptop for me? If not can you recommend one.
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Hi Iozza, Intel Core i7 is definitely a very good chip to get in your notebook -- it's extremely fast and you get a lot more processing power for the same energy consumption compared to the Core 2 Duos. Its fast speed will serve you well for a long time, and should allow you to upgrade to the next version of Windows -- whatever comes after Windows 7 -- without your notebook breaking a sweat.
The Qosmio is an outstanding notebook but probably not the ideal choice for you if you are not into gaming/music/movies, and you want to take it with you when you travel, as it is large (18" screen) and heavy (4.64KG!).
Based on the needs you oulined in your question, you'd probably be better off getting a 15" notebook with a Core i7 CPU inside.
Three good ones that spring to mind are the HP Envy which has an RRP of $3299 and terrific system specifications such as a full high definition display, lots of memory (up to 16GB), a big 500GB hard drive and thin and light form factor that won't break your back (26mm thick, and 2.35KG weight -- very light for such a high-spec notebook).
HP does have a cheaper notebook if you don't want to pay that much but still want a Core i7 processor. Its HP dv6-2005TX is a bit chunkier and heavier -- 4.1cm thick at its thickest, and 2.88KG, but considerably cheaper at $1,899. We've also spotted it on special recently for $1,599, which is a great price for such a good specification.
Another alternative would be the Dell Studio 15 which at $1699 is similar in price and still has very good specifications. We don't have this model in our database currently (we have its $1199 little brother, which confusingly shares the same "Studio 15" model name but only has a Core 2 Duo CPU -- we'll work on adding the better model.) The model with Core i7 we'd recommend is here:
Dell.com.au and has the Core i7 processor in it.
In coming weeks, many more Core i7 notebooks will be announced, as the i7 fits into Intel's 2010 processor range, and many Core 2 Duo models will be phased out in favour of i7s. So keep an eye out for new notebook announcements on APCmag.com's main news feed. A couple of announcements have been made in the past few days, actually...