Photo: Apple

While all the debate and conversation centres around what tablet computers mean for netbooks, many people overlook the grandfather (and still the best all-rounder) of mobile computing – the laptop. We’ve racked the brains of our editorial team to come up with the top three Intel Core i7 laptops released in 2010.

The Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch (2010 release)

The latest batch of Apple Macbook Pro laptops brought with them a much-needed innards revision, when the stalwart Intel Core 2 Duos were replace by the Intel Core i5 and i7 respectively. The top-end configuration of the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch sees a 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 processor, with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. We’re biased toward the 15-inch because the 17-inch just feels too unwieldy, but if a bigger monitor is your thing, by all means go for it. You will always pay a premium for Apple products, but this Macbook Pro is a mainstay in anybody’s Intel Core i7 laptop range.

The HP Pavillion dv7-3110ea

Photo: HP

The HP Pavillion dv7-3110ea muscles its way on to this list almost exclusively on the back of its surprisingly good price relative to its capabilities. This Intel Core i7 720QM notebook packs 4GB of RAM and a spacious 500GB hard drive, just like the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch above. The only difference is processor clock speed is 1.6GHz vs 2.66GHz and it costs less than half the price. Feeling thrifty? This 17.3-inch Intel Core i7 laptop is price sensitive, too.

The Asus G73JH

Photo: Asus

Although it has an unnecessarily wieldy name and costs an average of 1.5 times the price of HP Pavillion dv7-3110ea above, the Asus G73JH deserves its spot on the list. Specs wise, it has the identical Intel Core i7 laptop processor the Pavillion has, the i7 720Qm clocking in at 1,6GHz, but it gets a RAM upgrade to 8GB. Hard drive capacity is also 8GB, with a 17-inch monitor. How then does it lay its stake? By having an ATI Mobility Radeon HD5870 graphics card, that’s how. Capable of playing the bulk of mainstream computer games on solid to very good settings, this utility laptop is the mobile PC gamer’s dream. And, if the graphics card is not justification enough, it is still cheaper than the Apple Macbook Pro 15-inch above. Convinced yet?

What other Intel Core i7 powered notebooks have you come across this year that you feel deserve being mentioned or reviewed in another post? Let us know in the comments section below.