Key Difference: A dual-core processor is a type of a central processing unit (CPU) that has two complete execution cores. Dual core has become synonymous with Intel Pentium Dual Core. Core 2 Duo are a series of dual-core processors that are invented by Intel.

Computers have evolved fast from the time they were introduced. Computers were originally launched to be able to solve mathematical applications. These computers were slow to process data and could only run one operating at a time, which means another action or operation had to wait for one operation to become over, before another operation could begin. These were known as single core processors. The demand for faster technology required that the processor companies make faster processors which higher clock speeds. Once a maximum clock speed was achieved, the manufacturers tried increasing the performance of their products by adding more cores to a single chip. These became known as multi-core processors and include dual core, quad core, hexa-core and octa-core processors.

A dual-core processor is a type of a central processing unit (CPU) that has two complete execution cores. Hence, it has the combined power of two processors, their caches and the cache controllers onto a single chip. This makes the dual-core processors well-suited for multitasking.

Dual-core processors have two cores that have an independent interface to the frontside bus. Each core has its own cache. This allows the operating system to have sufficient resources to handle intensive tasks in parallel.

Core 2 Duo are a series of dual-core processors that are invented by Intel. When Intel first started making dual core processors it named its series as the Pentium Dual Core, this referred to the companies dual cores. Hence, it can be said that these are the brand names of processors created by Intel. Intel’s first series following a major upgrade resulted in them calling their processors as Core Duo, with the duo hinting the two processors that are found on the processor. These are known as the 1^st generation of dual processors. AMD refers to its dual core processors as X2.

Core Duo was simply 2 Pentium 3 processors on a single chip. As the company began advancing processor technology making it faster and better, they decided to differentiate it from their first generation processor by labeling them Core 2 Duo. The 2 refers to the 2^nd generation of processors.

In a nutshell, there is no particular difference between dual-core processors as Core 2 Duo is simply a series of dual-core processors by Intel. These are same as dual-core processors.

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