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Spotted: New Intel Core i7 Quad Mobile and i5 Mobile processors

New Core i5 and Core i7 mobile processors leaked!

HP does it again! Reading through a recently posted Service Manual of the spanking new HP Envy 17, I’ve spotted three, new and upcoming Intel Core i5 and Core i7 Mobile processors that will be coming to HP Envy’s near you in the coming months (and presumably in other performance notebooks as well). The new processors include:

• Intel Core i7 840QM Quad-core processor – With a ‘native’ clock speed of 1.86 GHz and the ability to go up to 3.20 GHz using Turbo Boost, the i7-840QM is the new flagship processor of Intel’s non-Extreme line of processors. This processor is a wee bit faster than the 820QM, while maintaining 8 MB of L3 cache and 45W TDP rating. Another interesting fact is that the i7-840QM appears as an option alongside, instead of replacing, its 820QM sibling.
• Intel Core i7 740QM Quad-core processor – This looks like the love child of the existing Core i7 720QM and i7 820QM processors, sporting the 1.73 GHz clock speed of the latter and 6 MB of L3 cache of the former, and 45W TDP shared by all the existing Quad Core i7’s (except the i7-920XM). Maximum Turbo Boost speed is 2.93 GHz: that sits somewhere between the two (i7-720QM and i7-820QM).
• Intel Core i5 450M dual core processor – This is a very strange new processor indeed. Strange because it appears like a clone of the i5-520M processor with the same specifications and info on paper. 2.4 GHz dual core, with the ability to go up to 2.93 GHz via Turbo Boost, 3 MB of L3 cache and 35W TDP.

There are also a couple of implied new processors with the appearance of the three above. Here’s what I expect to also arrive (in other notebooks) at the same time:

• Intel Core i7 940XM Quad-core Extreme processor – With the i7 840QM able to hit the same 3.20 GHz ceiling as the i7 920XM via Turbo Boost, expect to see an upgraded i7 940XM mobile processor with 2.26 GHz clock speed and ability to Turbo Boost to 3.33 GHz or more.
• New Intel Core i5 500M series processors (i5 530M and i5 550M) – These new processors will maintain their 35W TDP, while giving an increase in clock speed/Turbo Boost max clock speed.

Well, go right ahead and check out that Service Manual to see those new processor options yourself, along with a wealth of information related to the Envy 17 (like how there’s no battery slice available, the fact it uses the GDDR5 version of the ATI Mobility Radeon 5850 and not DDR3 [rejoice!], how the hard drives and RAM slots are now “customer accessible” and more!). The new processors also make an appearance in the HP Envy 15 Service Manual, hinting that the Envy 15 (and it’s rather not-so-nice keyboard) is not so dead yet… well, there’s always wishful thinking that a redesigned 2nd gen Envy 15 or Envy 16 will come out this fall, right?

Tablet news: Touchsmart tm2 getting LV i3/i5 soon, rumored webOS HP Slate

Hey, here’s a two-in-one news story about HP tablet/slate devices. The first, fairly solid rumor/announcement is that the recently released HP Touchsmart tm2 will be packed with the latest, but currently unannounced, Intel low-voltage Core i3 and Core i5 processors in a few months’ time, most likely somewhere during summer, towards the July/August period where Intel has had some history in announcing new stuff. Well, that’s great news for ‘back to school’ goers and people who can wait for a while before buying their new notebook… but probably not so great for people like me – you know, the type who wants the ‘latest and greatest’ but at the same time needs to get a new notebook pretty soon (I’m looking for an ultra-portable to replace my current HP Mini this year).

In other news, there’s whispers of a HP Slate like slate in development that will run WebOS (courtesy of buying Palm not two weeks ago). Sources are saying that mobile processors will definitely be used in this latest “Slate” (compared to the original HP Slate that will run on Intel Atom ‘netbook’ processors), though the topic as to which mobile processor is up for speculation (I’m betting some upgraded/future Snapdragon processor/Nvidia Tegra 2). Rumors from the web (which usually are less reliable, like the time that the speculated ‘HP iPaq K3 Obsidian’ turned out to be called the ‘HP iPaq Glisten’ instead) label this upcoming HP slate, the HP Hurricane. Seeing we haven’t quite gotten any names from sources yet, I guess we’ll stick to that for now – look out for further news about the HP Hurricane in the future (which will be listed under our existing HP Slate news category)

Compaq Presario CQ1 all-in-one/nettop appears on HP’s site

I’m not sure what is it with HP recently, making products (or at least their product and order pages) available first before an actual announcement. But regardless, they’ve just come out with a new Touchsmart-like (similar form factor with no touchscreen here), budget net-top computer – the Compaq CQ1. The CQ1 may look a whole lot like the more expensive Touchsmart PC’s in terms of design but their similarities end there. The CQ1 has a 18.5 inch non-touch display, a dual core Intel Atom processor, 2 DDR2 RAM slots, runs Windows XP (what year are we living in again?) and has a relatively affordable starting price of $430. The CQ1 also sports its fair share of ports and a slot-loading optical drive.

Breaking: HP Elitebook 8740w pic, specs and prices hit HP USA!

HP Elitebook 8740w FINALLY makes its appearance

Don’t say we didn’t tell you something big was coming in mid-end March, because we did! And now it’s here: the HP Elitebook 8740w has just appeared on HP’s USA website – complete with a profile picture, half a dozen pre-built configurations and specifications, including ATI FirePro M7820 professional workstation class graphics appearing in its full glory. You can have one for yourself (the most basic model, of course) for a fairly affordable $1,999, while the almost-fully kitted out Core i7 quad model will cost you $3,899.

We expect prices for certain configurations to be able to hit the $5000 mark and over once more pre-built or configure to order models are released, especially with options for up to Core i7 Extreme (no word yet on whether it’ll be last year’s Intel Core i7 920XM quad core or the forthcoming Core i7 940XM quad core), backlit keyboard, Dream Color 2 and up to 16 GB of DDR3 RAM.

What puzzles me at the moment is why the seemingly high-end ATI FirePro M7820 is available only in the two lower end/cheaper configurations featuring regular Intel Core i5 processors and just 2 GB of RAM… I mean, ATI has always been affordable (versus Nvidia) in most cases, but the huge $1,000 price difference we’re seeing on the pre-built models? That’s just because you’re not getting Core i7 and loads of RAM that the Nvidia Quadro 8740w models have… and that sure makes one wonder WHY?!

And the magical question asked by people who DON’T want/need a 17 inch workstation-class laptop – will HP share some of the Core i7 Extreme and ATI FirePro love with the existing HP Elitebook 8440w and 8540w models? Quite likely.

This message: Sent from my Elitebook

Hey everyone, guess what? A friend of mine got his Elitebook 8440p just last week equipped with the Intel Core i5 540M 2.53 GHz dual core processor and not-so-well known Nvidia Quadro NVS 3100M graphics. While he’s still doing some hard disk spring cleaning and organizing data from his old Dell to be moved to their new home, he’s feeling nice enough to let me have a little spin with his new tech toy. So far, the Elitebook 8440p feels a whole lot like the Elitebook 8440w I reviewed when it first came out – including the nice, spill-proof, tactile partial-chiclet keyboard. There’s an odd change to the items above the display though: the webcam has been shifted slightly to the right (but now in a position more centralized than the 8440w’s webcam) and the HP Night Light is slightly more ‘right side’  biased than that of the 8440w.

I’ll be writing up a review on the Elitebook 8440p soon, once I spend more time with this thing; with opinions and user experience input from my friend once he starts using the notebook for real. What I can tell you so far is that gaming performance has been surprisingly underwhelming – compared to the 8440w, I had to tune down Left4Dead 2 to 1280 x 720 and Low settings in order to play at 20 FPS (8440w manages almost double the frame rate with higher settings). I’ll have to do more testing on this, maybe update a few drivers or something. EDIT: Turns out Core i5 is real picky on whether the notebook is plugged in when it comes to choosing either performance or power saving. With the charger plugged into the HP Elitebook 8440p, I managed to play Left4Dead 2 with a frame rate ranging from 24 to 40 FPS – frame rate only drops down to 10 FPS if you’re running off battery power.

HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet full specifications; 16:10 multitouch, available for order

I’ve been waiting days for this and it’s finally here – the HP Touchsmart tm2 is available for (pre?) order on HP’s official website. But more importantly, the full list of available options and specifications are there as well. Processor options max out at Intel’s 1.6 Ghz dual core, low voltage processor with ATI Mobility 4550 graphics. Good news for “movie widescreen” haters too, the Touchsmart tm2 has a 16:10 multitouch widescreen with 1280 x 800 resolution – that’s a tinsy bit lower res than you’d find with a 16:9 widescreen (1366 x 768) but gives you 32 extra pixels of vertical resolution to work with.

The Touchsmart tm2 won’t have a built-in optical drive (though an external one is available separately) and currently lacks any option for backlit keyboard keys or 9 cell battery. However, 7200 RPM hard disks are standard and the notebook/tablet is merely an inch thick at its thinnest point.