Design and Manufacture

• Each Intel Core i3 and Core 2 Duo T6600 is a dual-core processor, meaning that it has two cores, or processing units. However, while the Core i3 has four threads of execution for sequence of instructions from the operating system, the T6600 has two. Also, while the Core i3 uses the 32-nanometer manufacturing process, the T6600 used the 45-nm lithographic node instead, making it a larger CPU.
  
  

Speeds

• The Intel Core i3 has a processing speed range of 1.2 GHz to 2.66 GHz. At 2.2 GHz, the Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 places near the top of the i3's range. In terms of data transfer, the i3-300 series has a speed of 2.5 billion transfers per second and the i3-2000 series offers 5 billion transfers per second. By contrast, the T6600 has a data transfer speed of 800 million transfers per second.
  
  

Cache and Power Consumption

• Each Intel Core i3 mobile CPU has three caches, while the Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 has two. Caches are small components on the chip used for high-speed access to computer memory. Intel gives the storage capacity of the third cache of the i3 and second cache of the T6600 as 3 MB and 2 MB, respectively. With a peak power consumption rating of 35 watts, the T6600 is on the lowest end of energy efficiency within the i3 range, which is 17 to 35 watts.
  
  

Technologies

• The Core i3 and Core 2 Duo T6600 are 64-bit processors. Each chip contains SpeedStep for saving energy while boosting performance and Execute Disable Bit for protection against viruses and malicious-code attacks. Also included on the i3 are technologies such as hyper-threading for increasing multitasking capability, virtualization for combining multiple operating systems into a single PC, and Fast Memory and Flex Memory for maximizing the chip's memory access. The second-generation chips additionally have features such as 4G WiMAX for Internet access, and anti-theft technology; and the i3-2330E and i3-2310M have Intel HD Graphics for built-in graphics processing.