Core 2 Duo Speeds

Iv'e been looking at a lot of dells/hp's but they tend to jack up the price too much. I like a sony vaio i saw with 1.66 core 2 duo, my question is, Is 1.66ghz going to be enough to last me a few years or because its a duo processor does that mean its much better than 1.66?

 

G'day Dan, and welcome to NBR!

It depends on what you're planning on doing with the notebook, I guess. For basic day to day tasks (web, office productivity and the like), it should last you a few years without any problems. It'll even be good for gaming, as gaming performance is more dependant on your graphics card anyway.

I would recommend upgrading to 2GB of RAM, especially if you're running or planning on installing Vista. Don't buy the extra RAM through Sony... buy it aftermarket and save a bundle.

You wouldn't be looking at the 13.3" C series VAIO, by any chance? Nice machine...

 

As TedJ said, the processor should be more than enough for most peoples needs. Generally, if a Core 2 Duo is offered, it will provide way more than enough processing power for the average user, and normally more than enough for most advanced users, who run processor tasks on their system. Games aren't processor intensive so much, but rather more dependant on the graphic card, so a faster graphics card will be more beneficial there.

I also agree with TedJ on the option of RAM. 2 GB of RAM isn't all to expensive to buy these days, and it gives you enough RAM to run many programs on a computer, without it feeling sluggish. It will also provide that bit more performance in some RAM intensive games, like Battlefield 2/2142.

 

1.66 is a fast CPU, and 1.83 is a pretty good one if it's a cheap upgrade. If you do any video encoding or anything like that, I'd consider the T7200, which is at the sweet spot of price/performance, and it isn't completely hamstrung by the FSB like higher-speed models are. Either way, more RAM will help you the most. If you have your RAM maxed out, then consider upgrading your processor, if your budget allows.

 

It's the 17 inch AR series, 160 gb, 2gb ram. I stick to xbox 360 for online gaming and such but i just want something really fast for multitasking and decent gaming perhaps. Is it better to go through dell or something and upgrade to 2.16 core 2?

 

Eh...you should probably post in the "What NoteBook Should I Buy" section then (if you haven't already), and fill out the notebook FAQ. It's hard to say without understanding your computing needs better.

 

I didnt mean to get away from the original topic, i just want to know about the core 2 duo, the rest i can manage.

 

As mentioned we could offer you some nice recommendations w/ the FAQ. In my opinion there are . . . better choices than the Sony AR out there.

Here's how I'd put it: as long as you're getting a Core 2 Duo then clockspeed shouldn't be a major concern. the T5500 is powerful even at 1.66GHz (which is not low these days). We're long past the clockspeed wars of the Pentium 4 era. Now it's all about efficiency, and the Core 2 is the most efficient CPU.