Since I'm in the market for a new desktop replacement laptop, I was checking out the latest reviews. I was stunned to discover that Sony's latest (Vaio FW480J/T) equiped with an Intel P7350 processor beats out HP's latest (Pavilion dv7-2185DX) which has a quad-core Q9000!
Ehh it's within a margin of error. However in the unreal tournament test the pavilion wins. which may suggest that the dual core is holding the GPU back.
I guess I was expecting a 5-star rated processor (Q9000) to beat a 4-star processor (P7350) by a wider margin.
In terms of cost, I was unable to find a price for the P7350 (probably because Intel only sells it to OEMs). I found prices in canadian dollars for both processors, and the difference is $116 CDN (Q9000=$434CDN and P7350=$316CDN), so basically a $100 US premium for the Q9000 and no actual performance bonus.
As for video performance, I wasn't planning on using the laptop for games, so I don't really care about the HP's higher frame rates.
Also keep in mind a quad core strength comes from it's multi tasking ability as opposed to is single task speed. Given that the p7350 and the q9000 have the same clock speed. (2.0ghz) the HP would win with better multi threaded apps and heavier multitasking.
But the sony does come with a blu-ray drive. And IMO a much nicer case, and is 100 dollars cheaper. Perhaps I would get the sony if it were my decision to make.
Hmm... Your latest comments got me thinking about just how weird the CNET benchmarks appear.
Their first test, called "Multimedia multitasking test", should've been won by the Asus G71GX-RX05 because it is equipped with a 2.53Ghz P8700... Or, as you pointed out, because the test is "multitasking, the Q9000 driven HP should perform better... Very strange, counter-intuitive results.
MULTIMEDIA MULTITASKING TEST RESULT (in second)
SONY=929
HP=931
ASUS=949
But I looked at the MSI GT725-212US review for comparison, because it also uses a 2.0Ghz Q9000, and that laptop got:
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/ms [...] =mncol;lst MULTIMEDIA MULTITASKING TEST RESULT (in second)
MSI=649
I think the good folks at CNET screwed up their test...
Yeah, I agree, the SONY laptop has a much nicer case. I might go bigger and get the 18" VAIO-AW series because it has 1080p full HD screen and a full keyboard.