X300 1.2Ghz core 2 duo = 2.4Ghz solo core?

I'm thinking about the X300 over and over the only thing stopping me from taking a decision is the processor speed.

but the question is:
core 2 duo of 1.2Ghz = 2.4Ghz solo core?

Thanks.

 

Eh, in a sense, it does. But technically, no.

It's two cores working at once, which means more efficiency. And that's really what it's about. Is efficiency. If I slapped two 1.2 GHz P4s together, it would suck crap compared to the C2D 1.2 GHz

 

Thinking that a dual-core processor equals a single core processor at double the clockspeed, is a misnomer.

If I were to take two Core 2 Duos (assuming they existed in this configuration), one at 2.4GHz, and one at 1.2GHz, and could disable one core on the 2.4GHz CPU, the single 2.4GHz core would be faster, running a single, single-threaded application. But, if you start to run multithreaded applications, your dual-core CPU will win, or if you run an operating system capable of multithreading, and run multiple apps, your dual-core will also win.

Applications are becoming increasingly multithreaded these days, due to the fact that dual-core processors are becoming standard fare. This is a good thing, as it allows a system to handle more tasks at once, and because raw clockspeed can only be scaled so high on a given processor design.

The X300 will be a reasonably fast machine for many needs, even with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, because it is an efficient processor. Whether it is the right machine for you, however, depends on the applications you wish to run, and whether portability is your highest concern over any other needs you may have.