Quick Processor comparison
Lots of marketing, but here is Intel's list: http://www.intel.com/consumer/learn/processors/index.htm?iid=gg_play+learn_processors
Lots of marketing, but here is AMD's list: http://www.amd.com/us/products/Pages/processors.aspx
AMD Desktop Processor comparison: a spreadsheet copied from AMD
AMD Laptop Processor comparison (not so great) http://products.amd.com/en-us/NotebookCPUResult.aspx
Intel Atom: Decent article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-atom-cpu,1947.html
Basics:
| AMD | |||
| Desktop | Laptop | ||
| FX series | high end 4-8 core emphasize power, not graphics | ||
| A Series | higher end 2-4 core with integrated Graphics Card | A series | |
| E series | low end dual core with integrated Graphics card | E series | |
| Phenom | Built multi-core from ground up | Turion | Built for thin laptops; some multi (II or X2 is multi) |
| Athlon | Became multi-core; good power use (II or X2 is multi) | Athlon | Became multi-core (II or X2 is multi) |
| Sempron | Low end single core | Sempron | Low end single core |
| Intel | |||
| Desktop | Laptop | ||
| i7 Extreme | Gaming use 6 core and allows overclocking | i7 Extreme | |
| 4th gen of i3, i5, i7 | integrated graphics and slight battery usage improvements; runs hotter and not as good for overclocking | 4th gen of i3, i5, i7 | |
| Core i7 | all quad core; use HT to appear as eight core. support triple-channel DDR3 memory; turbo mode (can overclock automatically when some cores unused) | Centrino | Seems to be a marketing package. (Centrino - Intel Core Solo or Pentium M with certain chipset and networking; Centrino Duo - Intel Core Duo or Core 2 Duo) |
| Core i5 | turbo mode; | ||
| Core2 | has duo, quad, extreme (built multi-core; good power use) | Core 2 | has duo, quad, extreme (built multi-core; good power use) |
| Pentium | became multi-core, but not very well (has 1-4 and dual) | Pentium | became multi-core, but not very well (has 1-4 and dual) |
| Celeron | Low end single core | Celeron | Low end single core |
Netbooks:
| Atom | Pros
The price: $29 for an Atom 230 Weak overall performance |