What are the advantages of dual and quad core processors?
Since many desktop applications are designed as single threaded applications, dual/quad core processors aren’t fully utilized at the moment. Dual and quad core processors simply allow you to run more than one application with minimal effect on system performance. As dual/quad core CPUs become standard on most systems, developers will move toward multi-thread applications that take advantage of multiple cores. This requires a change in how software developers write code since managing the processing and keeping it synchronized can be new concepts for developers. Ultimately application performance will improve but for now, most of the improvement is in running multiple applications without slowing each other down (i.e. running anti-virus will only take one core and leave you the other…lol).
