Okay, some things are just extravagant, you know? Almost embarassingly so. Consider the specs on the new Toshiba Qosmio G45-AV680: HD DVD-R3 drive, USB HD tuner, Santa Rosa Intel PM965 chipset, Core 2 Duo T7300, 2GB RAM,  nVidia GForce 8600 GT 512MB, dual 160GB HDD, all current and future wireless standards, webcam, Harmon Kardon 4-speaker system with subwoofer,  and obligatory fingerprint reader. Whew! It’ll cost you: $3,199, but if you’re in the market for the notebook that has everything (except SSD, I do notice), the Qosmio might be your cup of tea.

I have thing for Tablet PCs (although my wife stole mine and won’t give it back), and the HP 2710p looks like a good’n. Oh, sure, it has all the usual stuff, 12.1 inch screen, less than four pounds, ultra-low voltage Core 2 Duo processor choices, etc., etc. But that 12.1 inch screen is no ordinary LCD. No, it has LED-backlighting along with its digitzer, promising to overcome one of the biggest weaknesses of Tablet PCs: dim screens. Pricing ranges from a bare-bones unit at $1,649 up to $2,478 for a fully-loaded monster. But, nobody knows when it’ll be released, so all this goodness is moot at the moment.

Intel introduced six new Core 2 Duo processors, bringing the total for notebooks and desktop PCs to 29 different models: The Core 2 Extreme X7800 is the new baby for notebooks, along with new 2.66 GHz and 3 GHz quad-core desktop processors as well FSB 1333 dual-core chips extend the mainstream product line.

The FSB1333 os the new one for desktops. The upgraded chips of the E6×50 series include the E6850 (3.0 GHz), E6750 (2.66 GHz) and E6550 (2.33 GHz). There is also a new FSB1333 quad-core chip for gamers (QX6850, 3.0 GHz) and a FSB1066 quad-core for the (Q6700, 2.66 GHz).

Intel also said that it will be offering a “battery friendly” quad-core processor for notebooks next year.

If you’re lucky enough to own a notebook with an ExpressCard slot (which is many newer notebooks these days), you can easily add a 32GB solid-state drive (SSD) thanks to Transcend. They’re faster, can take more punishment, and use less power, but they’re also mighty expensive: this model will set you back $509. Ouch, but no pain, no gain, as they say. Oh, and it includes a USB 2.0 adapter for those unlucky souls without an ExpressCard slot; no word if this makes an impact on performance.

Cloth an otherwise outstanding notebook in real leather, and you limit your market a bit. Not just to animal rights activists and Hindus, but to normal people with decent taste. In addition, I have some basic questions, such as: how does the air flow? I think I’ll take my ThinkPads in their non-Select versions–and trust me, I enjoy a nice, thick steak every now and then.