Intel's Core Duo on the desktop

The Core Duo may well be Intel's best microprocessor. Conceived initially as a mobile processor, Core Duo is the dual-core descendant of the Pentium M and the direct predecessor to Intel's next-generation microarchitecture, versions of which are due to arrive in desktops, servers, workstations, and laptops later this year. You can understand, then, why we have been waiting impatiently, wriggling in our chairs, until somebody--anybody--actually delivered a desktop-style motherboard for this puppy. This high-performance, low-power processor could be an ideal centerpiece for a fast but quiet desktop system or a killer home theater PC. Equipped with desktop-class cooling and overclocked accordingly, the Core Duo might turn into a fire-breathing titan of performance--and it could give us something of a glimpse of Intel's future, as well.

The article gives a good outlook of how well Conroe, and other next-generation CPUs based on the Pentium M might perform, in the other hand, we have known for quite a while how fast the Pentium M is, and the Core Duo is just that, and more. I personally did not like how the reviewer tended to ignore positive results from AMD's Turion CPU, which performed quite similarly to Intel's low-power offerings.

If there is anything else to add, it would be that AMD is in for trouble unless they can bring further performance enhancements along with their new DDR2 processors later this year. But until then, the Athlon X2 remains king of the hill in my book.