Before i get into my real questions,   For my Laptop,  I have a 2nd 500 gig Samsung EVO 850 SSD Drive that I will be installing to run sonar and VST's, and audio files,  etc from. 
 
For now, all of my PC's have Firewire. and I use an M- Audio audiophile and considering the Tascam US 16-08
 
I'm no computer Guru, just read my way into trouble!...  what I read so far is..
My Dell M6500 ( dual drives and dedicated graphics adapter )  laptop has the G1 socket with the PM55 Chipset
 
My existing processor is an  I5-540M, 2.53 GHz, L3 3 MB  
 
As i understand it,  it will take 8 gigs of ram per slot.   using 2 of the 4 slots
2 slots @ 2X8 for 16 gigs for a dual processor
or 4 slots @ 4 X 8 for 32 Gigs for a quad processor
 
Given this - would it be of any benefit to jump to an I7 Quad processor  ( even over an I7 Dual )
 
Right now I'm limited to 16 gigs of Ram.   a Quad Core processor would give me 32 Gigs of Ram
The I5 is faster than the I7's  and draws less power.
 
What do i really need for Sonar and stuff like East West Sounds and VST instruments   Here are the specs and options,
 
Release date:2010Microarchitecture:WestmereCore Name:ArrandaleManufacturing Process:0.032 micronSocket Type:Socket G1The Number of Cores:2The Number of Threads:4Multiprocessing:Not supportedFrequency:2.533 GHzMaximum Turbo Frequency:3.067 GHzL1 Cache:64 KB (code)
64 KB (data)L2 Cache:512KBL3 Cache:3 MBThermal Design Power:35 WattIntegrated GPU:HD (Westmere)Supported memory:DDR3-800 / DDR3-1066 
 
Option B is upgrade the processor to a quad core and 32 gigs of Ram
This is where I'm asking for some help.
 
The Fastest I7 is:
I7-840QM, 1.86 GHz, L3 8 MB
 
Release date:2010Microarchitecture:NehalemCore Name:ClarksfieldManufacturing Process:0.045 micronSocket Type:Socket G1The Number of Cores:4The Number of Threads:8Multiprocessing:Not supportedFrequency:1.867 GHzMaximum Turbo Frequency:3.2 GHzL1 Cache:128 KB (code)
128 KB (data)L2 Cache:1 MBL3 Cache:8 MBThermal Design Power:45 WattSupported memory:DDR3-1066 / DDR3-1333 
Then there is the I7 Mobile Extreme  -  e
I7-940XM, 2.13 GHz, L3 8 MB
If I'm reading this correctly  I'm looking at 20 additional Watts ( and heat ).  I'm sure this will impact battery life considerably.
as well as additional cost even for a used processor.
 
 
Release date:2010Microarchitecture:NehalemCore Name:ClarksfieldManufacturing Process:0.045 micronSocket Type:Socket G1The Number of Cores:4The Number of Threads:8Multiprocessing:Not supportedFrequency:2.133 GHzMaximum Turbo Frequency:3.333 GHzL1 Cache:128 KB (code)
128 KB (data)L2 Cache:1 MBL3 Cache:8 MBThermal Design Power:55 WattSupported memory:DDR3-1066 / DDR3-1333  
 
Thanks for any help

The number of processing cores a processor has, has no impact on the amount of RAM it can support. 32-bit (external) processors can address a maximum of about 4 GB of RAM. 64-bit processors can address a theoretical 16+ TB. Practically, with today's processors, it's more like 8 TB of RAM. So, it's what you can physically buy, and what the motherboard can physically (not theoretically) address. Then it's up to your application to make use of all the memory.
 
I'm not sure how you figure the i5 is a more powerful processor than the i7. I agree on the power consumption, though. Gotta recommend sticking with an i7.

I was just reading the processors that fit the G1 slot.  the I5's are a tad faster than the I7's
 
The I5 dual is 2.53 and the I7quad is 1.83  ( sounds strange to me too.. )
I guess i need to pull the keyboard out and see how many ram slots there are.  that will let me know if its a quad core motherboard.
From the net... if its on the net it has to be true!.....
Only the ones shipping with quad-core i7 CPUs have the four memory sockets.  Those shipped with dual cores (i5 or i7) have only two.
 
I put this on hold until I open it up.
 
Thanks

With my processor I'm limited 2 the 2 ram slots for sure.... 
Would 32 gigs of Ram with a quad core be a noticeable difference over say.. 16 gigs with the dual core  - considering the use of the EVO 850 SSD?
 
Here's what I've found out so far.   I have a dual core processor so it looks like I can use 2 memory slots.
If I use1333 MHZ I'm reading I can get 16 gigs ( 2X8)

 

Feature
Dell Precision M6500 Technical Specifications
Processors

Intel®Core™
i7 Extreme Edition Quad-Core, Core i7 Quad-Core or the Core i7 & i5 Dual-Core Processors
Chipset  Mobile Intel PM55 Chipset
Memory
Up to 32GB of 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
Up to 8GB of 1600MHz Dual Channel DDR3 Memory
Available DIMM Slots Quad-Core configurations: Four
Available DIMM Slots Dual-Core configurations: Two
 

Notes about your system:

Although the memory can be installed one module at a time, the best performance comes from using matched pairs of modules.

Your Dell Precision M6500 (Quad Core)

system specs as shipped

memory

Maximum memory: 32768MB

Slots:4 (2 banks of 2)*Not to exceed manufacturer supported memory.2GB
2GB
Empty
Empty

what does this mean?

storage

Storage: SATA 2 - 3Gb/s

 
28%

72% Free (500105736192 Total Storage)what does this mean?

Chipset

Chipset: Intel PM55

Yeh, it's weird but there actually are RAM addressibility limitations to some CPUs. Some models are indeed limited to 16GB. I don't know why that is, but it may be an artificial restriction to help differentiate models and justify different prices for them.
 
However, I'd make two observations. First, 16 GB should be plenty of RAM for any audio application you're going to run on a laptop. If you're doing memory-intensive stuff like multiple large sample libraries, you should probably be doing it on a desktop machine anyway. Second, the benefit of more RAM is trivial compared to the benefit of a higher clock speed, more cores and larger cache. Most i7s  are going to out-perform i5s.
 
That said, there is also a concern about heat. Laptops don't dissipate heat well, and the i7 gets hotter than the i5. You might find that the i7 benefits are negated because the O/S keeps slowing it down to keep it cool.
 

Thanks for the help... much appreciated!