Hi Pipper,

Still around. What do you mean by 'maxed out' ?

DV8 Intel Core i7 720QM @ 1.60GHz
HDX Intel Core2 Extreme QX9300 @ 2.53GHz

?

IMHO, compare it with identical laptops and the difference between them would be about 500Mhz.

The 'speed' justifies/translates, the 'better' performer in synthetic benchmarks and such...

personally I dont have to render a place like space, time, planets, stars, galaxies and universe.

: )

you decide...

ps. if you do upgrade...can I buy yours ? j/k

i7 720qm indexscore Passmark cpumark 3290
qx9300 indexscore Passmark cpumark 3533
source:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

The extreme (X) part of a q9300 is the lower TDP (Watts)

Both have their pro's & con's in their own particular ways...

like this:
Cinebench R10 - multicore
QX9300 score 10754
i7 720qm score 10010
Q9000 score 8842

here !

Cinebench R10 - single core
i7 720qm score 3736
QX9300 score 3136
Q9000 score 2632


Do NOT compare a MOBILE i7 with a DESKTOP i7 chippy.

quote
My best time for Wprime is ~15.5 seconds with the 720QM my best time with the Q9000 is under 14 seconds.

1.5 seconds is pretty large in that benchmark. If we were talking about encoding a 2 hour movie with x264 that may be the difference in waiting an extra 20 minutes or so for it to get done.
unquote

Amazing no?

Everything in the eye of the beholder

GL