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A couple of colleagues say their laptops have 2xquad-core i7 processors. One has an HP envy, the other has a dell precision laptop. Yet I can't find anything on the dell or hp or on the web about 2xquad-core i7 processors available in a laptop?

Are there laptops out there that have 2xquad core i7 processors?

To give you an idea of use, I'm looking to run around 10 VMs running a range of middleware technologies and databases, the load won't be that great, but would be nice to have the power.

Thanks for your help.

Robinhood
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  • Funfact: If these "i7"s run on the same board than they cannot possibly be real i7s (they are a consumer product and thus don't support multi socket operation) but must be Xeon E5 (or maybe E7s) – SEJPM Jun 19 '16 at 07:23
  • I'm running 10 VMs - sometimes more - on my Lenovo P50. It has a Xeon E3-1505 CPU (4 cores and Hyperthreading) and is expandable up to 64GB RAM. I think it should have pretty enough steam for your requirements too. – Perlator Jun 20 '16 at 17:09
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    @Robinhood are you sure you want to use a laptop for this job? Why does it have to be a laptop; why not a desktop? – Adam Wykes Jul 19 '16 at 19:05

2 Answers2

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It is not possible to run 2 x i7 because they are consumer grade CPUs and do not support multi CPU configurations. I do not believe there is a laptop that can simultaneously use 2 CPUs at once because of power and thermal limitations.

You should look into mobile workstations that feature either an Xeon or an i7 Extreme edition CPU with at least 16GB of RAM. The Lenovo ThinkPad P50 is a great choice with an Xeon CPU and up to 64GB of RAM (I recommend 32GB). It is also pretty affordable with the 32GB ECC RAM and Xeon E3 and Nvidia Quadro version only around $2,500.

Peter Zhu
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  • Technically, it's possible, you just need special "glue" chips to provide the coordination logic -- that's how everyone did it back in the old days. Nobody does it that way anymore, though, since it's simpler and cheaper to just specify the use of Xeon CPUs. – Mark Jul 19 '16 at 20:24
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Your colleagues may have a quadcore in their laptops, but one each only. I haven't seen a laptop with two CPUs yet. That's what you have MultiCore for nowadays.

See more detailed info at https://superuser.com/questions/906539/is-using-multiple-cpus-possible-in-a-laptop (see Coretool's answer) and https://www.quora.com/Personal-computers-Dual-processors-Why-doesnt-a-PC-have-a-CPU-dedicated-to-the-user

I found that there is a laptop with two CPUs: The Asus Transformer Book Trio has an Intel i7 for Windows and an Intel Atom for Android.

Jeff Schaller
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Titus
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