Processor speed vs. number of processors?

-I am looking to get a laptop very soon and one of the most important things to me is how fast it runs. Laptop A has the Phenom II Dual-Core and runs at 3.0 GHz. Laptop B has the Phenom II Quad-Core but runs at 2.2 GHz. Which one would be the better option?That depends on the software that you're running. Most software only runs on one or two processor threads, in this situation the dual core processor with a higher clock speed will perform the best. Tasks such as video encoding or ray tracing that can use all of the processor cores will run better on the quad core with the lower clock speed.If you enjoy running quite a number of programs while you do other things, then i suggest you go quad core. If not, then go dual core.

So quad really really helps if you're going to be doing a lot of multitasking, RAM helps too, and quad core is also a good investment into the future since programs are catching up.

If you can get a quad core, then get it.