The new studio17 with i7 ?

I`m contemplating getting this as the deal on offer is hard to ignore, but it says its a 1.6ghz cpu, that overclocks to 2.8 when cores arent in use, and this doesnt sound very good to me, I mean, Overclocking is bad? I still have the inspiron 9100/p4-3.2ghz (a relic i know), so how does the i7 1.6 compare to the `real` 3.2 of the p4?
Just seems a bit `cheap` like the whole HT thing...

 

I can't answer your post fully but on the overclocking side I can:

Basically when you overclock a system yourself (by tweaking the clock speed directly and adjusting voltages), that is 'bad' (have to say I've done it on laptops and more-so on desktops without ill-effects).

The Core i7 is designed by intel to overclock itself - so it always runs in their specified parameters and would not void any warranty - so in normal use you shouldn't worry about the word overclcok in this context (it's a misnomer in some ways really because it's not going beyond any limits whereas the 'over' in overclocking suggests and normally means that you're going beyond spec).

 

It would destroy it performance wise. Especially in any sort of multitasking environment. Look up some bench marks. There are also some great threads on this site explaining how the i7 works, why it is superior (and some of the drawbacks, i.e. power consumption) and what you can expect from it.

Search is your friend!

 

Thanks, yeah I just saw the info on here, oops.