Whats the diff? - Core 2 Duo vs. Dual Core

When I was at the store talking to a sales rep about laptops the guy was pretty insistent on making sure I knew that there was a difference between the Intel Core 2 Duo and an Intel Dual Core processor.. He didn't really say why there was a difference or what it was though and I'm not sure. I'm in the market for a new laptop and was wondering if someone could clear this up for me. Thanks

 

A Core 2 Duo is just a particular kind of Dual Core processor... Core 2 Duos are obviously better than some other dual core processors, but I don't think there's an inherent difference.

I think either he's uneducated or he just wants extra money, tbh

 

Dual-Core may refer to Pentium Dual Core and Core Duo too, apart from the Core 2 Duo..!!

 

Aren't the pentium dual cores based off the Pentium 4?

 

Core Duo is the generation of processors before Core 2 Duo and are based off the Pentium M (P6) processors NOT Pentium 4 (Netburst). They are 32-bit processors and have numberings T2XX0 for the dual core standard voltage line. Pretty old now by computer standards, they use an older platform (Napa) and socket (M).

 

No, you might be thinking about the desktop Pentium D which is based on the P4. Pentium Dual cores are based on the Core 2 Duo family, just with lower FSB and reduced cache.

 

Yes, they are mainly for the GL960 (santa rosa) --> Pentium Dual Cores (Socket P)

 

Dual core means that the CPU has two core. In other words: the cpu has two "brains" inside it(ok it's a little bit more complex in real life).
Many dual core cpus are around, the most common are:
Intel Core 2 Duo
Intel Core Duo
Intel Pentium D (avoid this at all cost, fortunately I think it is not produced anymore)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core (as mentioned before, it's a stripped down Core 2 Duo and has nothing to do with pentium D).
AMD athlon x2

Intel Core 2 duo, is a processor line of Intel:
"Core" refer to the series, a little bit like "Pentium" in Pentium I, II, III, 4
"2" means "version 2", like the "II" in Pentium II
Duo means dual core (you can also find core 2 solo, which has one core, or core 2 Quad, which has 4 cores).

 

Salesperson was clearly trying to inform that Intel (Pentium) Dual Core is not the same as Core 2 Duo. Yes that is true, sort of. As said PDC is the same chip as C2D but with less L2 (1MB). All PDC have 533Mhz FSB. PDC do not have Enhanced Speedstep and Intel Virtualization Technology enabled. And as said, PDC most use the GL960 chipset they are socket P. According to Intel GL960 does not support FSB 667Mhz and 800Mhz CPU's. That is not in fact correct as several have upgraded CPU's and FSB has changed to proper FSB for new CPU. Well that is so neither here nor there.

They are good CPU's you find them on budget notebooks. They are fine for every day tasks and much more. If one is on a system you like and the price is good go for it.

 

Sorry, but nope. Besides having more cache, the C2D is a completely new architecture designed to use MUCH less power, and use the cores more effieciently than a PD, which is basically 2 shrunk Core 1s told to talk to each other. The Core 2 comes in up to 45nm, 1066FSB, higher efficiency, lower power usage, higher GHz overall, and more SSE instruction sets (important for newer OSes in the future, as well as new programs). The C2D and C2Q are entirely different than the PDs. Like the difference between 486 and Pentium.

 

Sorry but nope. Check your facts. The PDC IS a cache cut Merom C2D with a slightly lower FSB. For instance:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLA4J
compared to:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLA4F

Same core stepping, same cpuid string, same manufacturing tech, same TDP, etc.

 

Mcfadden, The Pentium dual core is actually based on the C2D, suffice it to say the MEROM version at 65nm. We're not talking about the Penryn 45nm C2D much less a Penryn as included on a Montevina/Centrino 2 platform as the one you mentioned.

 

The Pentium-Mobile Dual Cores has 2 variants - one based on the Yonah and the other based on the Merom-2M..!!

The Yonah based PDC is a Socket M CPU mainly for the i943 and i945 family, and supports EIST and XD Bit....

The Merom-2M based PDC is a Socket P CPU for the GL960 (an official upgrade to the Socket P Celeron M), and supports EIST, XD Bit, iAMT2 and Intel 64±....

The Yonah-PDC is a scaled down Core Duo and the Merom-2M PDC is a scaled down Core 2 Duo..!!
(CPUz identifies the T2060 {Socket M PDC} as a T2050 {Core Duo})

 

Thanks guys I was getting my facts together but well no reason to post that long response. Yes mcfaddenator 3 are crippled Core Duo's.
T2060
T2080
T2130
Good luck finding one at Best Buy. Are they still in production?

What you will find now the T23XX and T24XX PDC are 64bit so makes your statement not possible. They are Core 2 Duo's that failed QC or depending on demand crippled as cheaper than manufacturing a truly different line.

 

There also are PDC on desktops. They are cut down conroe cores.

 

now I'm confused. is there a difference between 1.6 GHz and 1.66 GHz, both of which are dual core (per Dell)? I'm thinking of either 512 RAM/40G/1.66 GHz or 1024 RAM/80G/1.6 GHz, both Dell D520.

thanks.

 

Which CPUs ?

 

Off topic, same idea, Centrino Duo = Core 2 Duo? Or different architecture?

 

Core 2 Duo refers to a certain range of CPUs.

 

The wikipedia article is very good. Have a good read of it.

 

thanks for the link to Wikipedia however now I'm more confused. somewhere I read that one of the cores can be disabled so dual core is really single core.

I'm presuming they're both Pentium Dual Core mobile processors. the first says:

DELL LATITUDE D520 1660MHz (this one has less RAM and a smaller HD); the other says DELL LATITUDE D520 1600MHz (double both RAM and HD).