[Solved] Dual Core or Core 2 Duo?

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs [Solved] Dual Core or Core 2 Duo?

My aunt needs a laptop for office use and so a budget one.. looked for Atom, but they have a tiny screen and are too weak, so found 2 laptops at my dealer for approximately the same price. But Im in a confusion of what to select.

1. Acer Aspire 4738z

Dual Core @ 2GHz 3Mb cache
2Gb DDR3
500Gb Hdd

2. Toshiba c650

Core 2 Duo @ 2.1GHz 1Mb Cache
2Gb DDR3
320Gb hdd

$10 higher price than first one, but thats not a problem.

Will the core 2 Duo perform noticeably better than a dual core with that cache? Hdd space is also not an issue, so what should I opt for?? Im more on the c2d side

Thanks a lot...

Reply to jj_alukkas

Is that Pentium Dual Core?
Do know what CPU model number?
Without knowing that I would go
with C2D

Reply to king smp

Plus I think Toshiba makes a better laptop generally.
Acer I think was bought by Dell a few years ago
if I remember right.

Reply to king smp

Thanks for your reply. Yes its a pentium Dual core P6100. Me too thinking about c2d as it atleast has a newer architecture and a bit more speed on the new one..

Reply to jj_alukkas

My mom's laptop has a P6100 in it. Its an Arrandale core (mobile i-series), but with less cache, less speed, and no virtualization support. I kinda looked at it like a Core i2 or i3 junior.

I'm guessing the C2D CPU is a T8100, with 3MB L3 cache or a T6500 with 2MB cache. I didn't see a 1MB cache model.

The P6100 is actually a 2 year newer chip. The C2D 'feels' like a warmer fuzzier decision, but the P6100 might be a more modern/capable selection. Knowing the C2D model would bring more clarity.

Reply to jpmucha

Dadiggle wrote :

Dual core the cpu have to go over the fsb if they want to communicate with each other. Core2duo they dont have to go outside the package. The can communicate with each other at their internal speeds.

I know the Core 2 Quads were actually two 'Duo' cores on the same package.
I didn't notice that difference between the P6100 and any of the mobile i3 Arrandales. The comparison is more Penryn vs. Arrandale. I thought the Arrandales were also native dual cores. Maybe I'm not understanding your point. SMP?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to jpmucha

Even simpler - your aunt will not notice any difference in performance between the two.

If the price difference is only $10, go for the one with the more modern processor.

Reply to jsc

Toshiba>Acer
Hands Down

Reply to king smp

Best answer

Dadiggle wrote :

it was just a simple explanation for the OP

Dual Core is a Core 2 Duo (or a Core Duo, in the case of some mobile versions) CPU with a lower internal clock rate and less L2 memory cache

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/art [...] dels/478/1

I'm going on the fact the OP said it was a P6100: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_ [...] Pentiums_2
Its closer to a Core i3 (1st Gen) than anything else, but they've branded it down to the 'Pentium' name.
Maybe the marketing on the laptop said it was a dual-core "Pentium" ... instead of a "Dual Core Pentium".

The P6100 was release a few months ago, so it potentially has the newer technology... although it was designed for the value 'Pentium' line (but at least not the 'Celeron' ultra-low value line). It seemed capable in my mom's webcrawling laptop. Just couldn't run a Virtual PC on it for all her ancient 16-bit Windows games

Reply to jpmucha

I would advise considering the battery life, screen quality and keyboard quality, as well as any other differences in features. I don' t think you can tell the difference between performance of the 2 processors.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to cadder

cadder wrote :

Those are all very good points. Laptops are special like that too... portability, battery life, case construction quality, screen resolution, etc are all factors. My 10" netbook has a better keyboard than my 6 year old 15.4" Toshiba laptop.

Reply to jpmucha

Wow, got a lot of good points.. And seeing that from all your comments, both are more or less the same, I think I should go for the c2d processor one as its from Toshiba and has a 15.4" monitor compared to the 14" and it looks better too.. Will make a final decision as soon as we go for the purchase with how both feels....

Reply to jj_alukkas

Went to the dealer and Got the Acer Dual core pentium with P6100 proccessor.. The dealer told that this one has DDR3 ram and a very new processor while the c2d toshiba had only DDR2 and was 2 yrs older processor.. Ya, the dual core had a newer architecture.. On use, the P6100 feels like a core i2 or i1 and is fast enough for daily needs except gaming.. I guess the 3mb cache is a boon as all apps open without any delay at all.. overall.. satisfied.. and it plays HD videos without any lag.. The other two points we missed were that this lap has a 14"LED display.. while the toshiba had a bigger screen which we didnt need.. and was TFT.. Display is very brilliant and doesnt have much viewing probs.. also it has the newer Intel HD graphics than the toshiba laptop which had a 945 chipset which is bad for HD content.. This has a HM55 chipset.. Gives 3 Hr battery life.. Thanks a lot to everyone who helped me here!!

Reply to jj_alukkas

Best answer selected by jj_alukkas.

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