I'm going to be buying a new laptop soon and I would like to know some opinions on what processor I should get.Am I better off with a 1.7ghz Core 2 Duo or a 3.2ghz Pentium 4 HT?Either way, I'll be running a Geforce 7600 or better and 2GB of DDR2.

May I ask why the choice is limited to those two? What is your budget for the CPU and the system itself?Manny

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB) is the one to go for if it's within your budget.And the best laptop grpahics card is the GeForce Go 7950GTXHowever these will be at the top end of the price range. A very good system that will be a good compromise between performance and price is a T7200 CPU and 7600GT GPU.Tell us your budget and a more useful recommendation can be made.regardsJim

Assuming this is right, this may change the picture for you:http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38681In general, the Core 2 is going to be about as fast as a P4 at twice the clock. I would stay away from a P4 if at all possible.

Okay.Price range is $1100 and under. About the best I'm able to find in that range seems to be either a high end P4 or a "low end" C2D. Both with GF 7600 graphics, 2Gb DDR and a big harddrive. The $1100 is pretty much set in stone, too. Now if I just go with a Core Duo, I can get one of those with GF 7900 graphics. Any other suggestions?

Hands down the C2D. It will run faster than the P4, run much cooler, use much less power and hence give you much longer battery life. P4 is old school, especially for a notebook.Gary

Oh, I totally missed that you were looking at a laptop. That's an even stronger reason to avoid the P4. In addition to the fact that the lowest end C2D will be at least as fast as the highest end P4, the P4's are immense power hogs. A C2D will give you much better battery life.