I have been spying on the Gateway SX2840 for sometime, mainly because of the processor and the amount of resources. I understand that the Intel Core i3 processor is the little brother of the the Core i7. The Core processors are the latest models from Intel to consumer use. Although Core i3 is all fancy with the integrated HD graphics and Hyper Threading technology, I cannot help but notice that it is not a duo core processor. Core i3 sounds like a single core, but with lots of power. What is the differences and advantages of Intel's Core (i3, i5, i7) models to the previous Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad Core processors (performance wise, not the # of processors)?

I was also wondering if there is really a difference between the "Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator" graphics card compared to brand names such as the heavy duty Nvidia GeForce and ATI Radeon.

Thanks. ^_^