This laptop or that laptop.

[DB_Hunter]

If I tell you this i5 is rated for 2.8GHz, it means that each of its four cores run at 2.8GHz. If you would like a "total", then that would be 2.8*4 = 11.2GHz.

Processors these days have underclocking and (the term used by Intel's processors is) Turboboosting. The i5 760 is rated at 2.8GHz, but will underclock to 1.2GHz to save power and heat when not demanded, and can Turboboost (dynamic overclocking pretty much) up to 3.3GHz given that it has the thermal headroom and other resources available.

In other words, the i5 760 (2.8GHz) is garunteed to run between 1.2-2.8GHz. If it's not overheating, it can turboboost up to 3.33GHz (though this performance is subjective to operating conditions - heat and threads).

The newest gen of i3s/i5s have even more amazing turboboost capabilities. AMD has something similar too.

Thanks, that clears up a lot of stuff.

I'm looking to get a laptop for a friend who just wants it for normal word processing, e-mail/Outlook, internet browsing and occasional use of Adobe Illustraitor. His basic request is that if he has a few windows/apss open like those mentioned above that his machine doesn't start grinding to a halt. His other request is to make the machine as 'future proof' as possible, given that he has a budget of about £400-450 max. I was originally just going to get him a Core 2 Duo machine for half the price but I'm wondering if I should get him an i3? Would it be worth going double the cost from say £200-215 to £400-450 just to get an i3 and possibly an i5?