Intel Core i7 Goes Mobile – Core i7-920XM ‘Clarksfield’ CPU Review

Final Thoughts

Intel seems to have a killer platform on their hands with the Clarksfield system. We were very impressed with the overall responsiveness of the system and the gaming performance was also exceptional for a mobile platform. With Intel Power Boost, Intel has done a great job on being able to dynamically adjust where your processor’s power is allocated in order to give you the best performance for the application you are running! Enthusiasts, gamers and content creators alike will find the Intel Core i7 mobile lineup an appealing solution.

Here we see the Windows 7 Performance Index rates our system at a commanding 6.9! With an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M, it is hard to imagine that the lowest performing part in our setup is the video card! That just goes to show how strong this system is in a portable package. Keep in mind that our test system has a SSD under the hood to give us that insane 7.8 out of 7.9 rating on the primary hard disk.

Now all of this power must come at a price. We already have seen that the Intel Core i7-920XM processor weighs in at a cool $1054 by itself! Intel has informed us that our test setup is valued at roughly $3500 given that we had an Intel X25-M 80GB SSD included in the setup. The target price for this system with a 250GB hard drive is $3229 with the 920XM. The good news is you can cut costs on the CPU by not getting the Extreme Edition, so you will hopefully be able to pick up a similar setup with a Core i7-820QM for about $500 less.

While this may seem like a steep price, for a high-end gaming system in a mobile, power efficient package, we think this system will be competitively priced at its target market. More and more households are moving away from desktops and moving to a laptop that, simply put, does not take up as much room as a traditional desktop. So even users who are not interested in the mobile aspect of the Clarksfield processor, they may be interested in its power-savings and its form factor! Others will be interested because it is the fastest mobile processor on the planet!

Legit Bottom Line: Intel seems to have a winner on its hands with the Core i7 mobile processors due to its efficiency, innovative Turbo Boost Technology, and raw power! For the best of the best in mobile processors, we are awarding the Intel Core i7-920XM Extreme Edition mobile processor the LR Editors’ Choice!