HP finally introduces Core i7 desktops

HP's new Intel Core i7-based Pavilion Elite: same chassis, new CPU.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Both Dell and Gateway launched Core i7 PCs in time with Intel's announcement of its new chip family last November. We don't know why HP has waited to make the switch, but with today's announcement of the Pavilion Elite m9600 desktop series, a quad-core Core i7-equipped HP can be yours starting at $949.

We've found Intel's Core i7 chips very fast, especially in the most demanding tasks like consumer-level digital media editing and multitasking. Core i7 has also been hailed as an expensive platform, as Intel is the only source for the necessary motherboard chipset, which also requires DDR3 memory, a pricier standard than more common DDR2 RAM. Those extra expenses are largely why AMD's Phenom and Phenom II, and Intel's own Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad chips are still common in lower-end retail desktops, although it remains likely that Intel will continue to ease pricing throughout 2009 to ensure wider Core i7 adoption.

Options for HP's new configurable Pavilion Elite m9600's are otherwise unremarkable. The only exception might be that the default 3D card, an Nvidia GeForce 9600GS, has 768MB of RAM, and all of the step-up models are 1GB cards. And here we'd just gotten used to the proliferation of 512MB cards. The larger video memory allotments won't guarantee fast PC gaming for all, but they will certainly help.

If you want to purchase a Core i7-based Pavilion Elite, HP's Web site is your only source for the moment, although we're sure the retail models won't be too far behind. That said, Dell's Core i7 Studio XPS systems start at $799. Dell's 3D card offerings include only 256MB and 512MB options, so you do lose a step in gaming performance, but if all you want is raw CPU power at the best price, it's hard to justify the HP's $949 starter price tag when Dell has such an aggressive bargain.

[Mr. Dee]

I have HP Workstation I bought in November, comes with 2 GBs of ECC RAM, 512 MB nVidia Quadro and an Intel Core 2 Quad 2.5 GHz. I have not intention of purchasing a new desktop until 2010 or when Windows 8 is released. My last desktop before that was a Dell Dimension purchased back in March of 2004 - 3.2 GHz P4 Northwood, 512 MBs of RAM (upgraded to 2.6 now), nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP.

[storrey]

Thank you for sharing your purchasing habits with everyone....a wonderful and interesting segue. Can you let us know the specs of your other previous purchases? BTW: It's Window "7" not "8".

[mkraftjr]

HA HA HA, that's great HA HA HA

[ikramerica--2008]

He's clearly skipping Windows 7. At least, I think that he's clearly doing that. :)

[rogsim]

Thanks for sharing that. Tell us more about your interesting life!

[wedgered2]

Actually, Dell is offering the ATI Radeon HD 4870 GDDR5 1024MB video card on the Studio XPS 435.

When is the review of the Studio XPS 435 coming?

[crescentdave]

I don't see how HP expects to compete at this price point. Not only is it late coming out (losing mindshare as well as market share), it's over priced. Gamers can easily add a card to any system and avoid the vendor's limited selection and markup.

I was hoping HP might prove to be competitive simply because competition benefits the end user.

[ikramerica--2008]

There are more customers in this world than simply gamers.

[crescentdave]

Indeed. But for most people, a 3d card with 512 mb would probably be enough. It's gamers, typically, who are demanding high octane cards like the 295gtx, etc. Gamers tend to mod their systems more than regular business users as well. But there are many different types of users- I was trying to suggest that the person who was interested in such a card would probably have the "expertise" and inclination to buy their card independently of a system configuration. They'd have increased choice and decreased cost.

[sticks1839]

It's base system may not be competitively priced compared to Dell's base system, but if you do much customization upgrading you will find that the HP quickly becomes the price leader. HP charges $400 rather than $470 for the 2.93 GHz processor. It only costs $80 to upgrade to 6GB of RAM on the HP, whereas Dell will charge $150. A 1TB hard drive will cost you $100 less on the HP as well.

So it all depends on what you are in the market for...

[ikramerica--2008]

doesn't photoshop CS4 use the graphics system intensely now? If so, this would help. And 3D modelers as well. They don't want to build or upgrade their systems, many don't know how. They work for companies with contracts with Dell or HP and buy them preconfigured as needed.

That's what I meant by "more than gamers" out there. Hardcore gamers are going to get a the fastest overclocked dual core with the fastest graphics chipset anyway, as the quad cores don't really help them much.

[pithenumber]

@ikaramerica
quad core is starting to help
but not by much though

[Buick107]

Like Dell, its probably only available with a 64-bit version of Vista. Useless to me! I have a lot of expensive devices (flight sim hardware) that will not work with vista 64. I will end up building a system from scratch.

[BlitzBoy1120]

I'm gonna refrain from buying a new Windows PC equipped with i7 until Windows 7 comes out. By then, i7 PCs should also lower in price a bit, so hopefully its all good by then.

[Notoapplefanbois]

And by then i5 will have been released which should be just as fast(due to length of time inbetween the two) but have more oc'ing potential since p** boards are better overclockers than x** boards.

They will also be cheaper and it uses dual channel ram so you save a bit of cash.

[sommoP]

<u style="20px">
HA HA HA, that's great HA HA HA
</u>

[Dango517]

Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit) <<<< add any equipment, maybe a driver, maybe not?

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-920 processor (2.66GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache with QPI Technology)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-940 processor (2.93GHz, 1MB L2 + 8MB shared L3 cache with QPI Technology) <<<<< I hope you like these your stuck with them for maybe 5+ years. No upgrade path on top of the line PCs.

12GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [6x2048]<<<<<<< WOW 12GBs! better use "sleep" this PC will take forever to start.

500GB RAID 1 (2 x 500GB SATA HDDs) - data security <<<<<<< needs to be standard equipment on all PCs

HP Personal Media Drives <<<<<<<<<< No way. external storage in and of itself is not bad if it's bolted to the desk and all the connections are soldered. Kids using it no way!

Skip the next two and give me OfficeOrg and Gimp then throw in some hardware for the swap.
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
Photography software

1 PCIe (x4), <<<<<<<<<< No SLI or Crossfire support. This may not make the "high end" gamers happy.

This is certainly a muscle machine that processor should fly. Not only is the processor fast but it has everything at it's disposal to recieve the the information it needs to process fast, fast, fast.

I'm not sure who, what type of PC user this machine was built for. Without SLI/crossfire this isn't an elite gaming PC. This PC is built for processor speed first and foremost, seems to me to be an office server modified into a PC.

Very good price, by the way. (-$300.00 off similair models) Available now.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&a1=Category&v1=Performance+and+entertainment&series_name=m9600t_series

[shadygeezer]

Hi all I was wondering if someone can tell me what is wrong with these "core 2 duo" chips, I have recently bought an apple macbook and noticed that it somehow works at a lot less speed than my sony vaio solo intel pentium M processor chip??? I thought that intel core 2 duo chips were supposed be fast and on top of that capable of multiple tasks!!!

I will give u an example when I am on the net instead of downloading things one at a time I do multiple downloads - the sony vaio manages this easily, I tried doing this with the macbook but it is seriously slow, it will not do multiple downloads! Don't get me wrong I love my macbook - and defo will not go back to windows, but I am concerned over these reports how "fast" intel chips are in reality they seem to be no different or no improvement at all or such improvements are pretty minuscule???

[streamline35]

I much prefer windows, but in no world should a pentium M ever be faster than a core 2 duo. If your macbook is that much slower than your five year old vaio, then there is something seriously wrong with it. Take it back and get it fixed.

As for your original question, the core 2 duos are significantly faster than the chips they replaced (all kinds of pentiums and core duos) and the difference should be quite noticeable.

[shadymoin]

streamline35

Thanks for your advice, yeh i am in the process of going back to apple and see what the problem is hopefully it will be solved.