Intel Core 2

The Core 2 brand refers to a range of consumer single- and dual-core and 2x2 MCM (Multi-Chip Module) quad-core with the instruction set, based on the Intel core, derived from the 32 bit laptop processor. The 2x2 dual-die quad-cor CPU had two separate dual-core dies (CPUs)—next to each other—in one quad-core package. The Core 2 relegated the pentium to a mid end market, and reunified laptop and desktop CPU lines, which previously had been divided into the Pentium 4, D, and M brands.

The Core microarchitecture returned to lower clock rate and improved processors' usage of both available clock cycles and power compared with preceding the pentium 4. microarchitecture provides more efficient decoding stages, execution units, and buses, reducing the Core 2-branded , while increasing their processing capacity. Intel's CPUs have varied very wildly in power consumption according to clock rate, architecture and semiconductor process, shown in the tables.

The Core 2 brand was introduced on July 27, 2006,comprising the Solo (single-core), Duo (dual core and quad core, , and in 2007, the Extreme (dual- or quad-core CPUs for enthusiasts) version. Intel Core 2 processors with vPro technology (designed for businesses) include the dual-core and quad-core branches.

The brand became immediately successful. The processors were introduced into Apple's popular MacBook series of notebooks, at the time Apple CEO justified the entire switch to Intel from IBM's processors by the Core 2 series' ability to provide high performance at low power consumption. The series of processors reasserted Intel's role in the processor market after a period in which began significantly encroaching on Intel's market share. The processor series became so successful that Anand Lal Shimpi coined the phrase "Conroe" as a verb to describe the releasing of a product that eclipses the competition in a previously hotly contested market