A CPU chip that contains two distinct processing units that work in parallel. IBM introduced dual core Power 4 CPUs in 2000, followed by Sun and HP in 2004 and x86-based Pentiums in 2005.

Both Intel and AMD released dual-core desktop processors in 2005, but consumers are just now beginning to upgrade into the realm of increased hyper-tasking efficiency. The transition hasn't been ...

Rounding out the new Athlon II lineup from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD are a pair of quad-cores and a pair of dual-cores, all of them 45W processors. The quad-cores are the 2.2-GHz Athlon II X4 ...