Are four cores better than two? Not necessarily...

The first reviews of Intel's quad-core parts have hit the street and the initial buzz is pretty much what you'd expect: performance boosts can be reaped only in parallel apps with multiple threads (think video and audio editing software), whereas in applications that only use one or two threads, the quad-core processors offer no noticeable advantage. It's now clear that it will be a while before most users, especially enterprise users, start seeing the benefits of having four cores on board. Having said that, however, I'm sure that many enthusiasts will buy the processors for the sake of future-proofing or just based on the strength of Intel's Core brand. After all, Intel's dual-core chips sold like hotcakes, why wouldn't the quad-core parts perform similarly?

For more on Intel's upcoming quad-core chips:
- check out the Ars Technica write-up