The Core i7 processor from Intel is something I’d want to test as soon as possible. It might not be as hot as some people say, but it’s certainly the processor we’ll be using in the future.

Dell has decided it was time it inserted it in some of its desktop systems. And let’s take a look at the first two, the XPS Studio and the XPS 730x. The Studio XPS desktop base model will get you 3GB memory, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 GPU and a 500GB HDD for $949. Willing to pay more? $1,499 will get you 6GB of RAM, a 512MB2 ATI Radeon HD 4850, a 750GB HDD and a 24-inch S2409W Flat panel monitor.

The XPS 730x is gaming-ready. It can hold up to 6GB DDR3 memory, an updated thermal monitoring system and chasis and a choice between ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB and NVIDIA GeForce GTX280 1024MB. The 730x starts somewhere around $2,599 and no matter what hardware you choose, Vista and i7 will be there.

What do you think? Waiting for the Core i7?