Yesterday i had gone to a shop to have a look at the various laptops in the market. Most of them were powered by Intel's core i3 processor (i was looking at low end models). They seem to have replaced the older Core 2 series. So, lets just see what the difference really is ?


The core i3m processors are Dual core processors with Hyperthreading. You all must have heard of Pentium 4 with HT(hyperthreading), well, this time its different and much better.

These are avaliable in 2 models, the i3 330m(2.13GHz, 3MB cache) and the i3 350m (2.26Ghz, 3MB Cache). They both have a TDP of 35W.

These are 32nm processors as compared to 45nm of the core 2s. This means that these run cooler and consume less power.

These processors have an integrated memory controller and do not have an FSB system like the older core 2s. This means that the memory latencies have reduced which should in theory (atleast) improve the performance. The processor supports DDR3 memory running at 800MHz or 1066MHz only.

These processors come with a GPU too. Its better than older Intel GMAs and are clocked at 667MHz. The drivers for the GPU are still new, so you may encounter some problems.


I have now actually used a system with a core i3 processor so i cant say how much better these are over a core 2. So if you do own one, please let us know what you feel about it. I have used the core i7m and you can find its review here. (XPS 16 - Full review Finally !!)