dual core i7 vs a quad core i7

The Quad is better and more expensive.

What Dual Core i7 you talking about? All(100%) i7 has 4Cores+ as well as with HyperThreading...

The OP probably refers to laptop processors.

Hi chella   . The core i7 2600 is a quad core with hyperthreading & turboboost. It is part of the Sandy bridge chipset range.   The core i5 2500 is a quad core & turbo boost,but no hyperthreading.   It to is part of the Sandy Bridge chipset range of processors. As for a core i7 dual core,I haven't seen any yet.  

Unless you mean the core 2 duo. That is old stuff going back to LGA775 days.

The dual core i7's are only found in laptops. They can be identified by the "M" at the end of the chip name, as opposed to the "QM".

Good One trogdor796. I didn't think of mobile processors.   Looks like I've got a one way tracked mind & that is desktops only.  

i would say the quad core would be better if you are talking sandy bridge due to the higher no. of cores and its slower clock speed could be made up by pretty agressive turbo,(even the slowest 2630qm has 2.6 on 3/4 cores, 2.8 on 2 and 2.9 single) so it wont be far off the dual core in single threaded apps, but if you are talking about the 1st gen nehalem based i7s then its up to you as the dual core ones have high clock speeds (2.8+ghz plus turbo) but the quad ones have drastically low(1.7-2.2ghz) and so it depends if you are a single threaded user then the dual core is for you, if heavily theaded then you will be better off going for the quad

There are a lot of benefits to having a quad core even if you aren't running apps that can make use of all of the cores. I would recommend anyone with the budget to get a quad core cpu in their desktop computer. A laptop is a little different story, because in addition to the higher price of the quad core cpu you also have to worry about shorter battery life and more heat generation. If you think you need a quad core in a laptop by all means get one, but if you don't run apps that really make use of the quad core then I would recommend getting a fast dual core processor and enjoying the longer battery life.

Find laptop with destop processor like i7 950 on a laptop(Found some that are $2000 and up)...

May I have a link? Haven't heard of such things yet.

there are laptops that do use x58 and 1366 cpu's but they are completly pointless and would give out a whopping amount of heat while being priced at ridiculous prices, and anyway, sandy bridge mobile quad cores arent that far behind the 1366 quad i7's while being cooler and cheaper due to the better architecture of sandy bridge
if you want the link this is one of the few
http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_inf...

Here are two of them for example but Im sure the cooling would be enough if it's clean...

http://www.buyxg.com/system/XG_Action_9000_Notebook

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Xplorer_X7_Xtreme_S1...

it looks to be pretty thin tho, im not sure the cooler would be enough even when its clean under 60+% load as it must be hard to cool a 130w tdp cpu with a cooler that size

every stock heatsink is fine for what it's cooling by the manufacturer...Example, Intel Stock Heatsink is fine for an Intel i7 960 for "normal/gaming" use but not for benching(Using prime) or overclocking... If the laptop overheat less than a month, you can complain that "it's overheating do to useless cooling" and also say "you piece of sh*t" on the phone to make they think your super pissed off   LMSAO JK...

lol
but even wiv what u said, the stock intel cooler would seem massive compared to the laptop 1 tho

If cooling failed such as having cpu at 60*C+ idle(for the GPU is fine unless it's at 70*C+ idle) than call them to return and get money back...

If cooling failed such as having cpu at 60*C+ idle(for the GPU is fine unless it's at 70*C+ idle) than call them to return and get money back...

I have a 4 core i7 mobile processor in my vaio, the computer only cost 750 bucks.

I'm a DJ and I run Serato - Virtual Vinyl Software where as digital timecodesfrom MP3's are used to simulate analog records and turntables. The software requires a lot of memory and at least a 2.4ghz processor. It's imperative that Serato does not crash and that the music does not lag- basically I need to ensure that there are no hiccups due to a slow CPU. What would perform better a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 or a 2.4GHz Quad-core Intel i7?

Thanks,
DJ Que Yi

Here are a couple of the 2nd generation Mobile Intel® Core™ processors. http://ark.intel.com/compare/52227,54611 as you can see they both have the same clock speed but the Intel Core i7-2820QM is going have a higher Turbo Boost speed and would generally be running at a higher clock speed due resources not being used as much on the quad over the dual. Now the Intel Core i7-2649M will have the lower power draw so longer battery life. So unless your laptop was running really hot you would see some boost from the Turbo Boost.

So answer to which would perform better would largely be influance by the application that you are running (Virtual Vinyl Software) and you would want to check with them as to if the software is multi-threaded, how many threads it can take advantage of and can it take advantage of hyper-threading. One you have those answers you will know which is the best processor for your needs.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

What's the point of an i7 mobile CPU being a dual-core? With two cores and four threads, shouldn't they be classified as i3 CPUs?

Personally while having a laptop with a true quad core there is always one way to get around the heat and shorter battery life by undervolting.

EDIT: oh nuts I didn't see the dates I replied to a necro thread  

thats like asking do you want 4 hot girls or 2 ok girls

The quad core is much better

actually, it's like asking 2 hot girls or 4 ok girls, as the dual core usually has a higher clockrate. and what if you're a straight girl, do you start fighting with these new girls or do you become best pals?

Clock rate doesn't really matters when it's about the same speed, what matters most is CORES... More Cores Better Performance... Which would you get, Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad because they are kind of same clock rate...