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Normally, when you're reading off specs for laptops, an Intel Core i7 quad-core processor isn't listed--for gaming laptops, desktop replacements, or otherwise--and with good reason. We've had a few quad-core systems in the past, like the Toshiba Qosmio X305, but those Q9000 CPUs were made for these notebooks. So, what do you get when you cram a desktop processor into a notebook? A beast.

AVADirect will be the first reseller in the U.S. to offer a notebook using the Intel Core i7 quad-core desktop processor. The Clevo D900F 17-inch gaming notebook can pack up to 12GB of DDR3, 1.5TB (500GB times three) of storage with RAID support, Nvidia GTX 280M graphics with 1GB GDDR3, and a 12-cell battery.

(Credit: AVADirect)

Unfortunately, the spec sheet doesn't say how long you can expect that 12-cell battery to last when you're running this thing. Suffice it to say you'll be plugged in most, if not all, of the time. And at 11.9 pounds of hardware meat--excluding adapter plug--I don't think carrying it around on a regular basis is going to enter the mind, so it works out. If nothing else, at least this will be the most compact Core i7 box on the market.

The D900F is not an entirely new design. It was based on an older model known as the D901C. This model also used a desktop processor and desktop components, but was based on the aging Core 2 technology.

AVADirect started taking preorders as of last week and plans to ship out the notebooks to expecting customers the first week in July. Starting price for the notebook is currently $2,538, with the sky being the limit depending on how high you configure it.

AVADirect's D900F (Core i7) notebook--photos

Each new ThinkStation is made from the equivalent of 19 plastic water bottles.

(Credit: Lenovo)

Lenovo is hoping to lure game developers and others to its refreshed workstation line, the ThinkStation.

Originally launched in late 2007, the ThinkStation S20 and D20 get some spit and polish, including the latest Intel Xeon processors, and a choice of either the Nvidia Quadro or ATI FirePro graphics cards.

The desktops will be on display at the Game Developers Conference here in San Francisco this week, powering a new virtual customer service world called eLounge that Lenovo is launching Tuesday. Built on the same engine as Unreal Tournament by Epic Games, eLounge looks very Second Life-esque, and functions similarly, but as a destination for customers to talk to customer service, and perhaps make online purchases of hardware for real life.

Lenovo is also pushing the green angle on the ThinkStation series. The S20 and D20 are Energy Star 5.0 certified. But the company says the exterior of the workstations are made out of plastic, 50 percent of which is recycled. Half of that recycled plastic, according to Lenovo, is post-consumer plastic.

The S20 starts at $1,070 and the D20 at $1,550.

A colleague sent me this video Lenovo made and published to its official blog. My jaw dropped. Not because the content is particularly shocking or offensive, but because of how incredibly misplaced and lame it is as a Lenovo ad.

If anything, it makes clear one thing: Lenovo's talents lie in selling huge volumes of ThinkPads to business customers, and notably not in making smart, hip Internet video.

In the video, a guy recounts to his male co-worker a late-night work session with their female colleague the night before. While he and the girl are working, he starts describing the features of the new W700ds workstation from Lenovo. As he does this, she inexplicably begins removing various items of clothing until, it is suggested but not shown entirely, she is completely undressed.

Needless to say, the video is probably not safe for work for the average corporate office. But besides that, it's just odd. Does this video really find its home in the demographic that will buy this monstrous, expensive workstation? It's hard to imagine.

What's worse, this product is entirely remarkable on its own merits, and requires no suggestive videos to be noticed: It's a laptop with two screens. People will take notice without some silly video that makes the company appear as if it is trying way too hard.

Dell's new mobile workstation, the 17-inch Precision M6400.

(Credit: Dell)

Dell introduced two new 15-inch mobile workstations last month while playing coy with the accompanying 17-inch model. And if you're shopping for a mobile workstation, odds are you're looking to go big with it. Today, the "next-generation 17-inch mobile workstation concept" Dell previously hinted at takes shape as the Precision M6400.

The M6400 workstation starts at $2,299. Dell is taking orders and expects to start shipping units on October 22. The system uses the Intel Q43 Express chipset and offers a number of Core 2 Duo processors, from the P8400 to the X9100, along with a quad-core Core 2 Quad QX9300 chip. The system supports up to 16GB of memory (should you choose 64-bit Vista), but Dell is offering a max of 4GB currently. A pair of Nvidia Quadro cards give you a choice between the 512MB FX2700M and the 1GB FX3700M. You can outfit the M6400 with one or two hard drives, in RAID 0 or 1 configurations. (Dell's Web site claims 500GB spinning drives and 128GB solid-state drives will be offered, but they are not showing up on the online configuration tool for the system at present. The highest capacity drives currently offered are 320GB and 64GB, respectively.)

The 17-inch display features a 1,440x900 resolution, though you can upgrade to a 1,920x1,200 resolution, which is LED backlit and supports 100 percent of Adobe's RGB color gamut. HD video editors or anyone looking for high-capacity optical storage will be dismayed to see that a Blu-ray drive is not offered.

The Precision M6400 measures 15.4 inches wide by 11 inches deep by 1.35 inches high. It weighs 8.54 pounds, which is very reasonable for a 17-inch laptop with a 9-cell battery. The system includes a touchpad and pointing stick. The touchpad has jog/shuttle dial controls that play nice with video- and audio-editing apps.

Networking options abound. In addition to 802.11b/g and a/g/n Wi-Fi, you can outfit the laptop with mobile broadband from Verizon or Sprint (EV-DO) or AT&T (HSDPA). Bluetooth and ultra-wideband Bluetooth are offered, too. Notable connections include eSATA, FireWire, and DisplayPort ports.

(Via Engadget)

(Credit: Dell)

A week ago, I wrote about mobile workstations from Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo that were on display at Siggraph 2008, but I left out one major competitor on the mobile workstation front: Dell. (Thanks, CNET commenter dman1000, for pointing out the oversight.) The manufacturer recently announced two new Precision mobile workstations and a "next-generation 17-inch mobile workstation concept."

The 15.4-inch Dell Precision M4400 will incorporate an Intel Extreme Edition processor and midrange Nvdia Quadro FX 770M graphics with 512MB of VRAM. The 14.1-inch Precision M2400, meanwhile, offers Core 2 Duo processors and an entry-level Nvidia Quadro FX 370M graphics card with 256MB of VRAM. Both systems support up to 8GB of memory and 7,200rpm hard drives in capacities up to 320GB. Both models are currently available on Dell's site; the Precision M4400 starts at $1,569 and the Precision M2400 starts at $1,449.

The company is also talking up a 17-inch mobile workstation concept that (assuming it comes to market) should dish up some hearty competition for the Lenovo and HP models I wrote up last week. The as-yet-unnamed Precision promises support for up to 16GB of memory, RAID capability with up to 1TB of storage, and graphics with a 1GB frame buffer. It will also feature an edge-to-edge glass RGB LED display, with a broad color gamut.

Being a concept, the 17-inch workstation lacks both a release date and pricing, though a video on Dell's workstation site promises fall 2008.

HP EliteBook 8530w and 8730w

(Credit: CNET Networks)

LOS ANGELES--This week's Siggraph conference attracted a diverse crowd of graphic designers, animators, and industrial designers, and both HP and Lenovo were on-site to show off their new mobile workstations for graphics professionals. I had a chance to meet with both companies at the show to talk about some of the key features of these new models.

HP started the week by announcing the 17-inch EliteBook 8730w and 15.4-inch EliteBook 8530w, both of which support Intel's not-yet-official quad-core Core 2 Extreme processors, 8GB of RAM, and Nvidia's next-generation Quadro FX cards with up to 1GB of VRAM. In addition, these latest EliteBooks feature a few small design enhancements, such as a new latch designed to reduce stress on the display and a special coating on the keys and touch pad to help prevent wear. Even cooler is the VGA camera on the display bezel, which pairs with included software to double as a business card reader.

The EliteBook 8730w is also the first workstation on the market to include an HP DreamColor display option. The RGB backlit-LED screen can display millions of colors and displays true color even when the screen is dimmed. I got a quick demo of the EliteBook 8730w and I was impressed with not only the stunning color quality but also the ease of switching back and forth between sRGB and Adobe RGB on the display.

Also remarkable: both the 15- and 17-inch EliteBooks were quite thin and sleek, especially for such high-powered machines.

The ThinkPad W700's built-in drawing tablet

(Credit: CNET Networks)

After HP I moved on to get a glance at Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 workstation, which was announced Tuesday. The beast was even larger than I'd imagined; after all, Lenovo representatives have emphasized that it's a workstation first, and mobile computer second. It's obviously larger than HP's 17-inch workstation, but the ThinkPad W700 also packs some bonus features: a built-in color calibrator and an integrated digitizer pad next to the touch pad.

Set to debut on Tuesday at the Siggraph conference in Los Angeles, Lenovo's new ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation is full of firsts. The 17-inch laptop is the first time ThinkPad has ventured into desktop replacement territory, and its larger-than-ever case will pack in not only the latest-generation components, but also two features we've never before seen on a laptop: a digitizing pad integrated into the wrist rest, and a built-in color calibrator.

The 4.7-inch-by-3.2-inch digitizer is essentially a mini-Wacom tablet that sits next to the laptop's touch pad. The digitizer pad can be mapped to the entire screen or to a defined area so you can manipulate images by hand. Above the digitizer pad sits an X-rite Pantone color sensor that's capable of color-calibrating the display when the lid is closed, eliminating the need to carry a separate calibration device. True colors will be especially noticeable on the ThinkPad W700's 17-inch WUXGA display, which offers 72 percent color gamut (meaning it can display 72 percent of the entire range of visible colors).

As you might suspect, the ThinkPad W700 is intended for graphics professionals, such as those in the digital content creation, computer-aided design and manufacturing, or digital photography fields. As such, Lenovo has configured the W700 with heavy-duty components to handle complex rendering tasks. In fact, the components are so new they haven't even been officially announced; Lenovo can only tell us the ThinkPad W700 will include a "next-generation Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core processor" and the "latest Nvidia Quadro FX graphics."

The ThinkPad W700's case also incorporates VGA, DisplayPort, and Dual Link DVI-D connections to support larger external displays. Hard-drive options go up to 640GB of storage and include a 64GB solid-state drive (which will surely be too small for a digital content professional), and optical drive options include a Blu-ray drive.

Pricing will start around $3,000; with the digitizer pad, color calibrator, and the highest-end component options, the price could reach $5,000. It seems like a lot, but we suspect the ThinkPad W700's intended audience of graphics professionals will gladly pay that amount to have all the tools they need in one mobile workstation.

The ThinkPad W700 will begin shipping September 2. We'll be catching a close-up look at the laptop at Siggraph on Tuesday and will post photos later in the week.

(Credit: AFC Industries)

The trend of exercising at the workstation is getting out of hand. Not only will it keep a rising number of employees chained to their desks, but companies apparently are aiming to dump even more work on the rank and file.

The latest reason for concern is the JW Treadmill Desk, a workstation that elevates the concept to yet another level. This torture device can be ordered with a built-in rack for multiple monitors, just in case you already don't have enough things to do at the same time.

AFC Industries, which manufactures the workstation, touts its ergonomic benefits and horshoe-shaped desktop for convenience, according to Coolest-Gadgets. But we think it's just one more step toward encircling the entire body so no one can escape.

(Credit: i-Desk)

There may be something to the idea of building LCDs into desks, as well as the occasional coffee table. We thought it was just a passing fancy, but there's already another furniture maker planning to do the same thing.

U.K.-based i-Desk has embedded a TFT display into the back panel of its "ClassicX Variheight" and has similarly ensconced a keyboard flush with the desktop. Adding to its all-in-one concept, according to BornRich, even the hard drive is built into the front panel.

Its height can also be adjusted electronically to improve ergonomics, though it's unclear whether the monitor can be lifted or lowered independently. i-Desk says this and other products it makes are geared toward those with physical disabilities but, judging by the apparent popularity of this type of furniture, we think they would find a market with the population at large.