What do the different numbers for the Intel Core 2 Duo processor mean?

Question

I am looking to buy a laptop soon. I notice on Dell's outlet store site for laptops that they list Intel Core 2 Duo processors with the following numbers: 1600, 1660, 1830, 1860, 2000, 2160, or 2330. I want to know what do these numbers mean exactly?

The numbers are from the Dell outlet store for their Inspiron and XPS Notebooks under the selection for processor. They are definitely for the Intel Core 2 Duo. You can go there at http://outlet.us.dell.com/.

Answer 1

They refer to intel's marketing numbers for their cpu's.

I couldn't find the numbers you posted on Dell's site, but the higher the number the more speed you get.
Also they refer to the chip's technology.

The numbers you posted are part of the Core Duo family , NOT THE CORE 2 DUO.

The core duo is more of a patched dual chip , not as good as the core 2 duo.

Check this link: http://www.intel.com/products/processor/coreduo/index.htm

and select the link: View specification chart

Answer 2

Those are NOT model numbers, because neither the Core 2 or the Core Duo have those model numbers. Those are the processor speeds, considering those are the 7 speeds that the Core 2 Duo mobile comes in, it is a fair assumption.

Answer 3

Intel has a page here that describes them.
http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/chart/core2duo.htm

The model numbers are arbitrarily chosen numbers that indicate the features, the clock speed, and the cache of the CPU to give a general of the classification of the CPU.

If you want to look up CPU's other than Core 2 Duo CPU's, use this page:
http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/index.htm

Edit: now that I look at the numbers, I think I agree with Adam's answer. They look like clock frequency numbers, and not model numbers. I think I agree with Adam's answer, but I'll leave mine up as a reference to the model number page.

Answer 4

I think that those are the clock speeds; 1.6 GHz 1.66 GHz, 1.83 GHz etc...