# Core 2 Duo vs Core i5 Dual Core



## Mac_100x (Mar 12, 2010)

Hi guys! Sorry if this is a noobish question. But I was just taking a look at the new Macbook Pro's and they indeed look very appealing! So I was wondering what is the difference between the Core 2 Duo, and the Core i5 Dual core? I was about to jump for the Core i5 until I noticed, it was still a dual core... so what can we expect? Are there any key differences in performance, is it worth upgrading and getting? Especially if I might be planning to do a bit more HD Video editing. 

Thanks in advance for the help!


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

If you are planning to do a fair amount of HD video editing then absolutely go with the fastest machine you can afford. 

For most other uses, any Apple Computer will be faster than you are.

Will let others more knowledgeable chime in with the real world differences between i5 and core 2.


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## viffer (Aug 29, 2007)

The i5 is newer technology and for a given clock speed should be faster. A key difference is that the i5 has hyper-threading. This means that you will have 2 threads running per CPU - thus 4 threads for the i5 vs 2 for the older duo. From the benchmarks I've seen, its a worthwhile upgrade. If you take a look at this link MacBook Pro Benchmarks (Early 2011) you will see that an i5 at 2.3Ghz rates 5900 while a Duo at 2.4Ghz rates 3351. That's a 75% increase! Of course, YMMV.
Also, you can always add RAM and HD, but you are stuck with your CPU so be sure to get some extra power to grow into the software that comes out - future proof


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

I dont have technical data, but I did have a 15inch MacBook Pro C2D, last model before the i5 chips came out. I upgraded from my 8month old C2D machine, I think it was 2.6 ghz, 4 gigs DDR3 ram, 256MB video to an i5 2.5 512mb video with 4 gigs of ram (now upgraded to 8 gigs) Right off the bat the i5 was way faster at everything I was doing. I use this machine for work, so using Adobe CS5 daily (indesign, illustrator, photoshop) and it was a very worthwhile upgrade as it all runs that much faster and smoother. The C2D machine is still a great macbook pro, for regular use its still very fast and gets the job done, I just wanted a bit more power for work. Both are quality machines, but I would get the newest and fastest you can afford as the i3/i5/i7 chips are now the standard, leaving the C2D behind.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Both a sports car and a truck are powerful.
Depends on what you want it for.

Tell us intended use.

Just a note - clock always counts.....for many users - a higher clock speed on say an i5 4 processing thread machine might be better value than a 2.0 8 processing threads a very very few apps will address 8 processing threads and clock is in play all the time.
If you answer your PM I can give you more detail or ask it in the Mac Masters thread.

Drive and ram have a huge say in performance


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## Mac_100x (Mar 12, 2010)

Thanks for all your responses everyone! But I think I got the idea after viffer showed that link! 75% does looks like a pretty big gap in performance, thanks for all your help again, and it seems like a worthy upgrade in my opinion. I will go and check out the new MBP's.


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## BlueMax (Aug 8, 2005)

In simple language, a 2GHz i5 is faster than a 2GHz Core2Duo... it does more per cycle.

Then add the fact the 2-core version fills the gaps in processing with 2 more "almost" cores.

Yes, the performance difference is pretty big. I want one, and I'd benefit most from the faster 2-core w/ hyperthreading than I would the slower full 4-core.

However, if your primary application benefits from multiple cores (like video editing and some audio packages) then the quad would be better.


Can you share your primary intent of the compy?


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