HP releases new Intel i7 fuelled TouchSmart

Anyone would think that Intel had released a new processor, but anyhow, HP is the latest of the computer manufacturers to leap aboard the Quad Core i7 bullet train.

TouchSmart all-in-one PCs are HP’s top of the range touch-screen consumer computers.  The new TouchSmart 600 Quad series are now on sale on HP’s American site, with the ultra-quick Intel i7 Quad Core processor.

HP is offering the 1.6GHz i7-720QM, with 6Mb L2 cache, as standard. Of course there’s an upgrade on offer to 1.73GHz i7-820QM, with 8Mb L2 cache.

Translation, for those not fluent in hardware geek: the GHz refers to the ‘clock speed’ of the processor, generally the faster the speed, the faster it can handle the tasks. The cache is memory stored by the CPU, which it can access much faster than the RAM.

For all our North American readers, it will set you back $1,699.99. Such a princely sum however gets you plenty more than just the i7.

HP is currently offering a free upgrade from the standard 4Gb of RAM to 6Gb, though you can upgrade even further to 8Gb.

There’s also a similar offer on the hard drive, with a free upgrade from the standard 750Gb, 7,200RPM hard disk drive (HDD), to a 1TB 5,400RPM HDD. Though if you’re a demon for the upgrades then you can splash out on a 1.5Tb 7,200RPM HDD.

Translation: the RPM refers to the maximum speed at which the HDD can read or write information from/to the platter, the disk which spins inside the drive and stores all your data.

Graphics wise the TouchSmart has a 1Gb NVIDIA GeForce GT230M, and games console connections. The latter means you should be able to hook up Xbox 360, PS3 and/or Wii to make the most of that 23 inch HD LCD widescreen.

There’s a Blu-ray upgrade on offer which should run smoothly with that graphics card and display and it has a 6-in-1 memory card reader and 5 USB ports too.

For all our European readers there’s still no word on when we can get our paws on them.

Image Credit: HP