Same manufacturer...a quad core running at 1.5ghz (I asume thats per core) or a single core running 3.2ghz. Both are laptops.

Assuming the cores are the same archetecture, it would depend on the software you were running. If the software is written to only take advantage of one core then the single core processor you listed would be faster. If the software is written to take good advantage of multiple threads then the quad core would be faster. also if you were running several programs at once the multi core processor would likely do better at that.

Im not sure what modern processor is available in a single core though.

It's not as simple as raw clock speed and number of cores, to determine which one will be faster for a given task. Cache sizes and speeds, bus speed, memory speed, memory voltage, and a bunch of other things can determine how "fast" a task will be performed, and how fast you will perceive it to be.

There is also no way that only one process will ever be running on a modern computer, either.

Clock speed is a mostly meaningless number. Just like HP. It's pretty much only for the "I have 2 more than you do" types, and marketing to those types.

My guess is a laptop is used wireless.. 90 % of the time.
So the one with the better wifi card and hardware will be the faster one..
Unless you are using this for hard core CAD , no use for a single core..
I'd also look at one with a solid state hard drive..

quote Originally posted by Keel: My guess is a laptop is used wireless.. 90 % of the time. So the one with the better wifi card and hardware will be the faster one.. Unless you are using this for hard core CAD , no use for a single core.. I'd also look at one with a solid state hard drive..

Yes you can't just look at the CPU
You want to look at the bus speed for your memory
You want to look at the hard drive specs
I've got a killer laptop But it's got a spinning hard drive The hard drive is the bottleneck
If you're multitasking The multiple cores will running applications better
Would definitely need more information about how you're using a laptop to answer this question

Whichever weighs more when you throw them both over the side of a cliff.

(I don't know, but the quad core will probably run a hell of a lot cooler and use less power, so will have a longer battery life)

The single core CPU would technically be faster, because that one would be flying out the window.

That said, the quad-core CPU should be faster in general computing, assuming the software can take advantage of it. Most software nowadays can. This also assumes the computer isn't hampered by a crappy hard drive or not enough RAM.

And with all that said, both those CPUs are pretty anemic by modern standards. So the computer will probably seem to be slow anyway. But the quad-core will not be as painfully slow as the single core.