Pentium Dual Core vs Core Duo vs Core 2 Duo?

I'm looking to replace my desktop with a laptop. I'd like to stay sub-$1000 if possible, but that is negotiable. I really don't do much processor-intensive stuff except for basic digital photo manipulation and music, but I'm worried about getting something that will be effectively obsolete in the next few years. I found a nice-sounding Gateway at Best Buy with a Pentium Dual Core an 2G RAM that's right in my price range, but is it worthwhile to upgrade to Core Duo or Core 2 Duo? I found pretty much the same thing but with Core 2 Duo for $250 more at Circuit City. Also, is there much improvement in battery life and heat if I go with Core 2 Duo?

the first pentium dual cores sucked such as the 805 and 915.go with dual core duo i hate to not say amd but now the duo is awesume.but some say if ya dont overclcok get the amd x2.if ya wait a bit they will have new x2 that are lower wattage and smaller die size .i have a amd x2 6000 and it is fast as hect but its power hungry but i got it for a amazeing deal

I'm going throught the same issue and looking at the same price range. The lady at Office Depot said to stay away from the pentiums and look for Centrinos or AMDs but I would love to get more information before I put down the money. Any advice?

The original D800/900 series were problem children, the newer D900 series adopted the 65nm tech that was the precursor to the core 2 duo.

Pure speculation from here on, I run a newer D 940 at 3.2GHz *cough 5.0 cough* and it runs fine and fairly cool, my understanding is Intel lowered the core speed and upped the FSB on the C2D to lower the temperature/power consumption.

I would not hesitate in buying the newer C2D based systems. JMHO.

This may be of use.

I just went thru the same purchasing decision you guys did (sub $1K). I got myself a laptop with enough beef to handle Photoshop/CAD/modelling/multimedia.

What I got was a ThinkPad T61 with the following specs.
Intel Core Duo T2400 (1.83 GHz)
1.5 GB memory
60GB HD
and regular stuff like DVD/WiFi etc.
All for $920 to my door

its hard to future proof but this configured with the new santa rosa core 2 duo with robson tech its hard to go wrong ....this is where i buy my laptops cuz i could configure it to my liking customized http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/PowerPro/j10-15.php

go into sale prices then choose one and configure it

Thanks, everybody, but while CPF was down, I went ahead and got the C2D, and I'm glad I did. This is the first notebook I've owned, so I don't know how hot they get, but this one has gotten warm at most, so that's one of the things I was looking for. I really haven't tried putting the processing power through it's paces yet, I'm still waiting to be able to set up my network to migrate stuff from my old PC, but so far I don't really see much difference from my old AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2.0GHz (though I suspect that's more to do with Vista than with the processor).
Dadof6, what I've managed to dig up indicates that the Pentium Dual Core is a low-rent version of the Core Duo with less cache. What exactly that means in practical application I don't know, but I'm sure someone on here can explain it or correct me if I'm wrong. What's relevant is that the Core 2 Duo is a significant improvement with different architecture and improved efficiency. My feeling is that, when shelling out for new technology, if there is something significantly "better" that's still affordable, it's probably worthwhile to go for it, 'cause who knows what the software you get in 6 months or a year will require. I've also learned that if you plan on getting Vista, get 2GB or more of RAM. Microsoft specs that 512MB is the minimum required, and alot of machines are sold with 1GB, but Vista will apparently really bog these down. Centrino I think refers to a sytem of hardware rather than just the processor, and my C2D has a Centrino sticker on it. As far as AMD, I think they were ahead of Intel tech-wise with the dual core processors until the C2D came out.
I'm excited! I'm still using dial-up, but soon I'll be using broadband over a wireless network to buy flashlights!