First Quad-Core Laptop Launched

Never mind the fact that Intel doesn't make a mobile version of its quad-core desktop chip, Xtreme Notebooks has taken a page from what the performance-focused manufacturers of the late '90s and early '00s often did, simply jamming the desktop chip into an oversized laptop. For $3,359 the Xtreme 917V Accelerator packs the Intel Q6600 Quad Core CPU into a monster 12.5-pound chassis.

Oh, and in case you thought that was cheap, be advised that's the starting price, with 512MB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, and last year's video card. Expect to top four to five grand for a high-end rig befitting the quad core chip.

Do you need four cores? Does anyone? Most benchmarks have shown quad core computers to offer about the same level of performance as high-end dual core computers on most benchmarks. The problem, as Cnet notes, is that there really isn't any software (for Windows, anyway) to take advantage of four cores. In fact, there's really not that much software that can even take advantage of two cores. That, of course, is going to change, but it doesn't mean you should drop four grand on a quad-core laptop today.

Kudos to Xtreme for pushing the envelope and engineering something unusual and out of the ordinary. God help you, your wallet, and your back if you actually shell out for one. 

LINK: First quad-core laptop hits U.S.