Dual Core bleh

So im about to go and buy Intel Core Duo and what i see is?

Intel Core Duo
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Centrino Core Duo

What the hell?? which one ai i suposed to buy???? whats the difference?

Its more confusing then AMD Cpu tags

help me out plz

thank you

 

centrino core duo = core duo

core 2 duo is slightly faster than core duo and is 64-bit instead of 32-bit.

 

Core Duo is the now "old" but still extreamly good notebook dual core processor. Core 2 is the next step from Core, clock for clock they average about a 20% manx performance boost, and they support 64-bit computing, which will be very usefull in the future. Centrino is a sticker name that is given to a notebook with a Core or Core 2 processor, and intel wifi, and is optimized for the best battery performance. If I were you I would get a Centrino Duo notebook with a Core 2.

 

so there isnt much difference then?
i dont care about 64bit support and im not planning to run vista but id like to know how it performes compared to core 2 duo.

 

The only thing is that the Core Duo is generally about the same price as the Core 2 Duo, so considering that clock for clock the Core 2 Duo gives you about 20% more performance and a little better battery life, it's usuall worth it. But if you get a good deal on a Core Duo computer, go for it. They are still extremely good processors.

 

Yes, Intel seems to believe that the way to achieve success is to use misleading names and cryptic model numbers. (If you think the above names are bad, you don't want to look at the model numbers separating each CPU within a family)

Anyway, Core (misleading because core is, and has always been, the term for one physical CPU "unit", and using that as a name for your CPU is just arrogant and confusing) Duo (so called because it has two cores, and because it further muddles the definitions by confusing people with the distinction between "dual-core", that is, any CPU with two cores, and Core Duo, the particular Core CPU architecture, with two cores) (further misleading because it's not really a new architecture, but simply the last revision of the Pentium M, but we can't let people know that, because Pentium 4 has given this name a bad, uh, name) is a nice performing, low-power dual-core CPU, based on a slightly enhanced Pentium M.

Core (Misleading because this is actually a new architecture, and has nothing to do with the "first generation" of Core CPU's, which were simply Pentium CPU's) 2 (misleading because this number doesn't refer to the number of cores, but simply the "generation" of the Core architecture) Duo (Confusing for the same reason as the above Core Duo, and further because a name with 2 *and* duo in it is just stupid) is Intel's true next-gen architecture, the one that beats the crap out of AMD's chips, as well as Pentium 4 and everything else on the market. It's still very power-efficient, but as said by the above posters, roughly 20% faster than Core Duo at the same clock speeds and with roughly the same power consumption.
It also has 64-bit support and most models support hardware virtualization.

Centrino isn't actually a CPU, but merely a "package" consisting of one of a few specific Intel motherboards, Intel wireless adapter and a low-power Intel CPU, and has no particular influence on performance. It's just a brand Intel uses to sell more notebook hardware.

Hope that answers your questions. And if you thought the above was confusing, try asking about the model numbers they use. And to think that people were sceptical when AMD started using them...

 

The simple answer is that the 32bit Core Duo and the slightly better 64 bit Core 2 Duo have equal prices. So, don't worry about the names but just buy Core 2 Duo

 

yeh i agree. Core 2 duo has a very small perfomance increase which you wont even notice. The only real advantage is 64bit whihc is nice to have. And as there the same price get the core 2 duo.

 

Ok ive just been looking through benchmarks and there is about 5 to 10 percent performance gain so i dont think core 2 duo is better and i wont notice that 5% increase.

 

The Core 2 Duo is not that much better because its not the famous Conroe core thats used in the desktop Core 2 duos, its the Merom. Other that the core, the difference is the 64 bit instruction set. It doesn't even have the 4 MB sharing L2 Cache.

 

err, Merom *is* the notebook version of Conroe. It's the same architecture, Merom is just tweaked a bit for low-power operation. What you're saying would be true for the original Core Duo, but not Core 2.

 

Actually, the %20 increase in performance is only in a few benchmarks, typically video and audio encoding, etc. You wouldn't notice much (or any) difference in a clock to clock comparison.

I want to upgrade my notebook with a Merom-based CPU...so even I want those few extra second and more power. Like someone said, unless you get a good deal on a Core Duo system, go with a Core 2 Duo.