Distinguished. Dec 20, 2010. 529. 0. 19,060. May 26, 2011. #2. A Core 2 Duo IS a Centrino dual core. i7 is generally the best of that bunch, followed by the i5 and i3. The i3 will be better than a C2D at same clock speed due to the newer architecture and hyperthreading.
Final Words. The difference between the dual-core and quad-core processor is actually the performance and power consumption. The quad-core processors offer higher performance and consume less power. So if you intend to do some professional-level tasks, then go ahead with the quad-core processors.
From a CPU standpoint, there's no difference in processing power between a dual core and a core 2 duo at the same clock speed. Only difference is dual core has less L2 cache. Here's sandra copy/paste from my two laptops, one w/ a c2d and another w/ a dual core. Dell 1525 w/ core 2 duo and 2 gb ram: Benchmark Results Dhrystone ALU : 15.50GIPS
Procesador Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600 (caché de 4 M, 2,40 GHz, FSB de 1066 MHz) guía rápida de referencia, en la que se incluyen especificaciones, funciones, precios, compatibilidad, documentación de diseño, códigos de pedido, códigos de especificaciones y más.Systems Used: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 3.2GHZ XFX ATi Radeon HD 5870 Abit IP35-E XF-I Titanium Pro PCI-Express Corsair 520HX 8GB DDR2-800 Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black Antec 900 Case Windows 7 Pro 64 Catalyst 9.11 Intel Core i5 750 Corsair H50 CPU Heatsink XFX ATi Radeon HD 5870 Asus P7P55D The MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.8 15" (SD - Mid-2009) features a 45 nm "Penryn" 2.8 GHz Intel "Core 2 Duo" processor (T9600), with two independent processor "cores" on a single silicon chip, a 6 MB shared "on chip" level 2 cache, a 1066 MHz frontside bus, 4 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-8500) installed in pairs (two 2 GB modules), a 500 GB Average Bench 29.2%. The Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 is amongst the fastest of the Core 2 Duo range of now nearly ten year old CPUs. The E8400 is included in our group tests simply as a reference point due to its huge success back in its day. Running at a clock speed of 3.0 GHz the E8400 has an effective speed of 52 which is 85% slower than its ykiYM.