Core 2 duo vs Corei7

So is the C2D outdated technology now? How would a C2D laptop compare to a Ci7? What are the main benefits of Ci7?

 

First of all, C2D is more than adequate for majority of people. Secondly, comparisons really depend what models you are looking at.

 

Thirdly, Core 2 Duo is outdated mostly in the sense that they're stopping production.

Fourthly, Core i7 is only one of the whole "Core i" family

 

Core i3/i5/i7 is meant to replace C2D. New improvements include hyperthreading, turbo boost, and HD Graphics.

 

I agree.

But both the C2D, and the Core i5 and i7 series are overkill for what 90% of what people who own laptops do. These "90%" of people do general productivity exercises and general taks such as word processing, spreadsheets, research, social networking, and general media.

The T4xxx Pentium Dual-Core's are very well suited at these tasks which is why the Dell Inspirons, Asus K-Series, Toshiba L Series, HP G-Series are so popular among new PC buyers. Entry level computing no longer means a Celeron or Sempron, now for $400-500 you get a T4xxx series processor, 4GB of RAM, 320-500GB HD, and a decent 1366 x 768 screen.

Edit: But yes, they are surely "outdated" and now "legacy" products essentially, but many retail builds still include them as I stated above.

 

A C2D will probably be trounced by an i7. It would be slightly less trounced by an i5, which is it's more direct replacement. A C2D is still a very good CPU though and you will start seeing some screaming deals on machines with them in it. If you're just gaming and not doing anything horribly CPU intensive, a C2D is a great investment. The only limiting thing I'd see is making sure you get a decent GPU, not too old. 4xxx or 5xxx series if it's ATI, 2xx or later Nvidia.

 

Although software evolution will render the C2D series obsolete some day, it just has not evolved that much in the past 6 months to make it anywhere near useless for even the most CPU intensive tasks. Granted they are no longer the fastest but they are relatively close.

 

Like everyone has said , Core 2 Duo is old and has been replaced by intel's core i series which are way better and more power efficient...Depending on what version u have 3,4,7 , the performance varies but generally any core i7 as long as it is not CULV should be better than T9900 which was the best core 2 duo processor...

 

The core i series dont seem to be much better on power usage then the c2d, as the new t410 has a better 9 cell battery as lost 2-3hours of battery use compared to the c2d lesser battery t400.

 

The Core i5's are great on battery. They can downclock a bit further under light usage as compared to the C2D's. So, it's not any worse than the C2D's as far as total power when under load, but a bit better when under light usage such as just web browsing and such. Couple that with an LED screen instead of a CCFL, and you're looking at some serious power reduction: http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3705&p=4
It'd be even nicer/better battery if my Envy could use the integrated GPU, but I suppose that's not a huge deal.

 

Well my case comes from the LED i5 t410 review compared to my own personal non led c2d t400 and the NBR review of the t400. With both LED screen and core i5 the battery life went down considerably. Granted I understand that there may be other things effecting it, but the major change was in the CPU department so thats where I went first.

 

Intel would like you think that it was outdated as soon as consumers start regularly buying i series. For most people the performance difference means very little, i can still game with my T7700 just fine, even with the latest games, as i find they are becoming better and better optimized.

 

Considerably? I don't know about that. Notice that they run the screen brightness at very different levels, even thought they both were LED screens. The original review ran with the brightness level at 60%, and got 6 hours on the 6-cell. The updated T400 got 5 hours and 58 minutes with the brightness level at 67%, although with "only" a WXGA panel instead of a WXGA+ (don't know if that makes a difference). The latest T410 review has the brightness level at 70% for a WXGA screen to get 5 hours and 43 minutes. Part of the problem is, it seems the integrated GPU has changed, from the X4500 to whatever Intel GMA HD Integrated Graphics are. They've also changed wireless cards, from the 5100 to the 6250. All of these are likely to have a large effect on the battery life.