Dell now offering laptops with Penryn, for a price

Exactly one month after Intel released its first 45nm laptop chips, Dell is offering the Penryn processors on the XPS M1330, a popular thin-and-light with a 13.3-inch widescreen display. But you have to really look for it, and for now you'll pay a premium.

The Tech Report hardware site first spotted the addition on Dell's site. The default high-end configuration still includes a 65nm Core 2 Duo T7250 (2.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB cache) for $1,479. But once you choose a default configuration and start to "Build Yours," you can now upgrade to one of three Penryn parts:

• Core 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz; 800MHz FSB; 3MB cache), for an additional $75
• Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz; 800MHz FSB; 6MB cache), for an additional $200
• Core 2 Duo T9500 (2.6GHz; 800MHz FSB; 6MB cache), for an additional $475

It doesn’t look like Dell is offering Penryn on any other XPS, XPS Gaming or Inspiron laptops yet. HP already offers the 2.50GHz T9300 on several Pavilion models including the 14.1-inch dv2700t series, 15.4-inch dv6700t series, 17-inch dv9700t series, and 20.1-inch HDX Entertainment Notebook PC.

Intel shipped its first five Penryn mobile chips at CES in early January. So far the ramp-up seems slow, but that should change in the next few months and Intel says that by mid-2008 it will be shipping more 45nm processors--both desktop and mobile--than older 65nm processors.