Portable Laptop with Intel Quad

[yottabit]

Hi all,

I'm getting frustrated looking for laptops as I've always kind of seen a hole for a portable laptop with an intel quad core. I don't need a discrete graphics card and would gladly rather trade that for battery life and cost savings. I long for something like a Thinkpad X that has an intel quad- do you think Ivy Bridge will bring this once those CPUs proliferate more? I'm not even looking for ultrabook level portability- just something that's not a tank gaming laptop.

Is there a laptop like this out there that I'm missing? So long as it's 13"+, and has a decent screen and keyboard I'm happy.

 

[corkyg]

There are many quad core laptops. I5 and I7 processors are available with 4 cores. I7 can be had with 6. Using the term "quad core" is yesterday's news. http://mintywhite.com/more/hardware-more/i3-i5-i7-quad-core-dual-core/

 

[yottabit]

I'm familiar with the abundance of quad cores.

However most of the portable/thin laptops I see have i5 or i7 dual cores available and you need to get the tankish gaming/workstation laptops to get an actual quad, which also comes along with the baggage of a discrete video card, etc

What I'm asking for is if a fairly lightweight laptop exists with a mobile quad and no discrete graphics. I don't think I've ever seen it before (outside of the AMD A8 stuff which won't fit my needs)

Also how on earth is using the term "quad core" by any means antiquated? How else are you supposed to differentiate between a 2 physical core cpu and a 4 core? I wish the terms "dual core" and "quad core" were used more often in mobile CPUs because it would keep me from having to go to intel's website to decode whether the i7 I am looking at buying is a dual or a quad. Thankfully most of the time I can tell by looking at the base clock frequency

 

[mnewsham]

AFAIK any intel CPU with QM or XM are quad core CPU's I would look at something like the Dell XPS 15 with i7-2670QM or greater, it has a discreet GPU (Nvidia 525) but honestly, as it has optimus it will rarely use power. Optimus will turn off the discreet GPU when it isn't being used.

 

[yottabit]

AFAIK any intel CPU with QM or XM are quad core CPU's I would look at something like the Dell XPS 15 with i7-2670QM or greater, it has a discreet GPU (Nvidia 525) but honestly, as it has optimus it will rarely use power. Optimus will turn off the discreet GPU when it isn't being used.

Thanks! I didn't know that about the XM and QM, that will be useful... I was looking at the XPS15 and HP Envy, but once they are optioned the way I want them (quad) and high res screen) they end up being well over a grand. I probably will have to get something like this.

I just feel from a manufacturing standpoint it should be possible to make quad core laptops in the ~$700 range by dropping the graphics card, but I guess there isn't much demand for that. I'm just curious to see (or if anyone knows) if Ivy Bridge will bring quads more mainstream in laptops or if that won't be (as it appears to me) until Haswell

 

[ther00kie16]

Lenovo has 14" laptops with quad core and optimus (not sure if there's a base model without discrete graphics). It's not an ultraportable but still lighter than any 15". The ivy bridge should models should be out and are probably even slightly lighter.

I don't believe there are any 13" quad core laptops out there so a Lenovo 14" is about the lightest you'll find.

Edit:
Here's the new ivy bridge 14" http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...FD&action=init

If you can wait for deals and/or for it to make its way into the outlet or can be satisfied with Sandy Bridge, they are within your $700 range now. My friend actually bought a new Y460 with blu-ray for $750 after taxes half a year ago.
http://outlet.lenovo.com/laptops.html?cpu_type=183&screen_size=131

You want the Y470 (V is lower grade) because Lenovo doesn't have switchable graphics with AMD.

 

[yottabit]

Lenovo has 14" laptops with quad core and optimus (not sure if there's a base model without discrete graphics). It's not an ultraportable but still lighter than any 15". The ivy bridge should models should be out and are probably even slightly lighter.

I don't believe there are any 13" quad core laptops out there so a Lenovo 14" is about the lightest you'll find.

Can you link to this? I love Lenovo products but I wasn't able to find the one you are talking about

 

[mnewsham]

the IdeaPad Y480 Laptop - 209388U - Dawn Grey: Weekly Deal is currently $899.00 and has the ivy bridge i7-3610QM. So 3rd generation CPU. and under 1 grand. Now granted it is only 1366x768 but that isn't as big a deal as the CPU and price.

link
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...r.workflow:Enter?mtm-item=:000001C9:00001ED8:

 

[yottabit]

WOW! Thanks so much ther00kie16

It looks like Lenovo has new 14" models with QUAD CORE IVY BRIDGE and discrete graphics for only $899 for this week!

That's a crazy deal

IdeaPad Y480 Laptop - 209388U - Dawn Grey: Weekly Deal

EDIT: mnwesham beat me to it!

Thanks guys!

 

[mnewsham]

or this one which is cheaper quadcore but 2nd gen not 3rd

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...%3A000005AD%3A

 

[yottabit]

or this one which is cheaper quadcore but 2nd gen not 3rd

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/c...%3A000005AD%3A

At first I was thinking of course I would get the Ivy Bridge for the extra $150 but on second thought I think this one is actually a better deal because 1) the 7690m is faster than the 640m and 2) I'd basically be spending $150 extra for a 10-15% faster CPU and worse graphics card

EDIT: Looks like maybe I was wrong about the graphics... hmm

 

[ther00kie16]

At first I was thinking of course I would get the Ivy Bridge for the extra $150 but on second thought I think this one is actually a better deal because 1) the 7690m is faster than the 640m and 2) I'd basically be spending $150 extra for a 10-15% faster CPU and worse graphics card

EDIT: Looks like maybe I was wrong about the graphics... hmm

Also, at least some sandy bridge Ideapads with AMD graphics didn't have switchable function. So if you want battery life, stick with nVidia. And the fact that 600m series is pretty fast.

 

[yottabit]

I played with a b570 laptop and actually liked the form factor. I forgot how fat my current laptop is for a 15" (Dell Studio 15) so I ended up biting the bullet on a y570 in the outlet with the sandy bridge quad and gt555m/8gb ram for $610.. I'll let you all know how it is when I receive it!

 

[Scout80]

I have a Thinkpad T410s and I love it. It is superlight, has decent battery life, and is high quality (it's a thinkpad). I would look for whatever replaced this model. T420 maybe?

I was able to pick up last year's model for a really good deal on TigerDirect. 4GB Ram, i5 M560, 128 GB SSD and 3 year lenovo warranty, 1440x900 for <$800. Good luck in the hunt.