Core or dual core 2?

hi, please could someone tell me in simple terms the difference between dual core vs dual core 2?

If you go back a few years a CPU only had one core, the core being the 'engine' of the PC if you will. Dual core takes two 'engines' and puts them into one physical CPU package which fits into one socket on your PC motherboard. With a quad core you get 4 'engines' in that singe package.

Now you would think that x2 cores = x2 performance but this is NOT the case, only SW written to take advantage of extra cores will really see a boost. With x4 this is even more evident. What if does mean though is that one core can be running one application whist another core runs another. The classic example is one core running your Virus scanner whilst the other plays your video.

In very very general terms a dual core is enough, Quad core tends to only really come into its own when you get into video editing / conversion. Over time more applications will take use of the two extra cores but a lot of applications don't work in ways that lend themselves to being run over 4 cores and never really will.

Unless you have a big budget you are better off getting a faster dual core CPU than a slower Quad for the same money.