10 Things You Need to Know About Intel's Core 2 Duo

1. Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme will be the fastest processors available. Faster than the Pentium EE, thanks to new techniques like Smart Cache and Wide Dynamic Execution—and, according to preliminary results, faster than the AMD FX62.

2. Core 2 Duo overtakes the Pentium as the name in processors. Farewell Pentium: There will never be a Pentium 5, 6, or XX. A brief moment of silence, please.

3. For the first time, Intel has specifically created one unified Core architecture for all categories: Conroe (desktops), Merom (notebooks), and Woodcrest (workstation/servers).nroe, Merom, and Woodcrest) will provide more computing power and use less energy.

6. Core 2 Duo is, for now, engineered to drop right into some current Pentium D/EE (LGA775) motherboards (with some BIOS/Firmware updates).

7. Multitasking moves to the next level. With Core 2 Duo's virtualization technology, you can turn one physical PC into several virtual systems, all running different applications and OSs.

8. Today, only business PCs have the TPM 1.2 protection chip built in. With Core 2 Duo, all PCs will be protected. TPM (Trusted Platform Module) protects your passwords, logons, and personal data at a hardware level from hackers, spyware, and identity thieves.

9. About the lame code-naming convention: Conroe, Merom, and Woodcrest don't exactly call to mind "speed" or "kickin' performance." Intel's desktop and workstation CPU design offices are in Oregon, California, and Texas, so it makes sense that the towns of Conroe (Texas) and Woodcrest (California) are represented in Intel's code names.

10. When can you get one? Intel wants its Core 2 Duo processors in systems within a few weeks of the official launch, which rumor mills have as the last week of July. Look for systems in early August.