Well, there is no such thing as a gaming laptop unless you go very high end, spec something similar to a mid to high end Alienware laptop.
Its also very difficult to compare older processors with newer. Even though the clock speed is significantly less, there are two processors AND each is capable of doing more work per clock cycle than the old single core.
The two are probably closely matched in processor power but the dual core will be a smoother working system under load since it can multitask better.
As far as gaming goes, not sure, the graphics capability is probably more important in this case.

 

Yes, if it says triple core 2.66 ghz, it means that the CPU has 3 cores each clocked to 2.66 ghz. If you want to play games i would recommend dual core CPU 3.0ghz+, 4GB ram+, 512 mb video card+.

 

I agree with fiarnooks; unless you buy a purpose built laptop for gaming, you are just asking for problems running demanding games on a laptop.

If you really must game on a laptop, then buy a dell/alienware. They are made for gaming with better cooling.

 

1) So if there was a laptop with quad core, 1.7GHz each and I wanted to run Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and up, would that work? I have a 1 GB dedicated graphics card.
2) And does having more video memory make gaming smoother even on low graphics or is the memory just what type of effects the card is capable of? Like if I had a graphics card that was 64 MB and ran at only 10 FPS on low graphics, would it make it run smoother if I expanded the memory to say, 512 MB? Would it run smooth on those low graphics?
3) PS I just want to make sure that having a quad core processor 1.7 GHz won't be slower for programs like PC games than a single core 3 GHz processor... Will it be faster or slower for multi threaded programs? Like is COD a multithreaded program?
Thanks for the help!!!

 

) So if there was a laptop with quad core, 1.7GHz each and I wanted to run Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and up, would that work? I have a 1 GB dedicated graphics card.

What are the min specs for the game?

If whatever app you are running is not optimized for multi core, then it is going to run faster on a single core 3gig cpu. If it is optimized for multi core, then it may or may not run faster with a quad core. My first thought is that it is going to run faster with the single because of such a spread between cpu speeds.

 

1) The CPU is only one part of the puzzle. But nearly any quad core should be capable of MW2. Check the requirements for each specific game in question; some will require a certain clock speed while others are fine with a processor within a certain series.
2). Video memory is not the end all either. A Radeon 6450 with 1GB of RAM will not even offer 1/10th performance of say a Radeon HD 6950 if it had 512MB of RAM. You need to look at the full capabilities of a card not just the memory - and the best way is to look at benchmarks.
3) Single core processors are a thing of the past. You will not find a single core processor in a modern system. And the efficiency and multiple cores make up for pure clock speed even for older games and applications. And if we are talking about new i5, i7, or the latest AMD CPU's then they will turbo up 2 cores or 1 core up to faster speeds when an application only requires the use of one or 2 cores. For example an i7-740QM with a base clock speed of 1.73Ghz(for each core) can scale a single core up to 2.93Ghz when its needed.

 

Thanks guys for your help!
I really appreciate it!