Nothing much, unless you do a lot of photo-editing and video-editing. Else, you won't really need to spend the extra money for performance that isn't going to be too astounding since most applications are not multithreaded.

xboxrulz

Okay, I'm going to touch back on this subject again. About the Computers/Laptops... And what I'm going to tell you, will apply across all vendors. If you computer says it will support a core 2 duo... or a Celeron D... it will most definitely support a Quad Core CPU. How you may ask? Well it's all about the socket size... Are we talking 775, 478, 423, or something else.
You can purchase a pretty robust processor and install it in your current motherboard provided it has a compatible socket. You may not be running at the maximum listed speed +3.0 GHz but you will be running at the fastest compatible speed your motherboard/latest bios will support. So you just may need to update the bios to get faster clock settings. Then again another side effect which can also be viewed as a benefit is you processor may be drawing less power from power supply than your previous processor thereby running cooler and freeing up more power for your other power hungry devices. And may also be fine if you haven't considered upgrading your power supply.

So you can think of it as a transition (I can't believe I'm using this word for IT, then again it's the consultant in me talking) rather than a upgrade, which will benefit you now as well as in the future. So when you're ready for that needed upgrade you can do it with ease.

happy computing

So back to the when it computer to computer/oem reseller configuration options. You can really just use anything. They just changed the ad to reflect their current access to just-in-time (built-to-order) inventory system - which consist of them plus the manufactures and testing companies, who have their machines tooled for specific motherboard fabrications.

Whether it is to stay competitive, industry acceptance, or for cost saving purposes, the ad's will always change.

Does this help any?

This post has been edited by levimage: May 1 2008, 02:34 AM

Unfortunately, by the end of the year, there's going to be a new socket that will replace Socket 775, so that phrase will no longer apply soon.

xboxrulz

The thing is, both Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8200 (6MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1333FSB) and the Quad-Core one was the same price. They aren't offering it both in the same week, but they are the same price.

I would choose the newer Intel Core 2 Duo over the Intel Core 2 Quad, since the dual-core processor is newer and has a faster bus speed. Also, not many applications and games can used all the processor cores that are available to them. Unless you intend on running virtual machines or processor-intensive applications that support multi-core processors, I suggest to stick with the Intel Core 2 Duo processor.