Dell Inspiron 530 compatability questions before buying

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Sun, Aug 12, 2007 at 12:53:41AM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> You've been fooled.  "Pentium Dual Core" is what Intel is calling
> cost-reduced processors based on the same technology as Core Duo or
> Core 2 Duo processors.
> 
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_Dual-Core

Hmm, that seems to be a recent change.  Always trust intel to do a great
job and confusing the hell out of their customers so that they will buy
their old junk by accident. :)

So the Pentium Dual Core T2060, T2080 and T2130 are old P6 designs,
while the E2140 and E2160 are based on the Core architecture.

> And they've also got Celeron branded
> processors based on the Core technology.
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeron#Conroe-L
> 
> Talk about confusing.  Of course the name "Core" is rather convusing,
> Then Core Duo and Core 2 Duo.  Sheeesh.

Yep, since the Core (no 2) are not Core achitecture, but instead P6
(Pentium M) based.

> Pentium is really a brand, not a technology.  That's why I started
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pentium_brand&action=history
> last year.  Unfortunately most wikipedia pages confuse branding with
> technology families.  See, for example
>   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium
> 
> Bottom line: I would guess that the Pentium Dual Core is a very 
> cost-effective choice.  I'd prefer the ones based on Core 2 Duo 
> (Allendale) design: 64-bit instruction set perhaps VT, I don't know.  
> Neither is very important for most lap-top uses.

The lower end Core 2 Duo mobile chips don't have VT, but the higher end
ones do.  Might be useful, might not.  I am not sure yet.

--
Len Sorensen
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