This answer is written with the intention of making the person reading the answer to understand the main difference between the two.

A Pentium processor is mainly intended for casual usage like browsing, light gaming and doing school projects and such other examples. Usually used as a home desktop

An i3 is a fairly more powerful processor with more cache memory and obviously more cores (virtual cores - known as hyper threading) , so more processing power. This is used for some basic programming and web development. Usually almost double the cost of a Pentium and more than thrice the power. Used in offices and homes.

So, eventually, all this boils down to your usage preferences and what you'd like to do with this computer

Slightly complex stuff ahead:

(Note: the latest generation of Pentium processors (7th Gen) are equipped with hyper threading, which basically turns it into an i3, but cheaper, not to be confused with 8th gen i3 processors which are pure quad core)

Remember that you can not use either of these processors for video development and moderate to heavy gaming, they're light processors meant for light use, 8th gen intel processors can handle quality gaming, the pure quad core helps a lot

Here are the significant differences: 1. i3 has a cache memory of 4MB while any Pentium Quad core has 3MB. For any computer, greater cache memory means faster access to the memory and quick execution of often used programs. Hence i3 is faster.

2. Graphics frequency of i3 is 733MHz while that of Quad core is 533 MHz. In simpler language, gaming experince and video quality will be enhanced if you are using i3.

3.Pentium Quad Core lacks the technology of Intel Clear Video HD which is available in i3. This again enhances the video quality of your screen.

4. Hyper threading means assigning the multiple tasks to different cores of the processor. i3 processor has the better ability to this hyper threading than Quad core, thus, essentially, the computer will run faster with i3.

Hope that solves your question!

Pentium Quad Core (PQC) has 4 cores and 4 threads, but an i3 has 2 cores and 4 threads. I have used a PQC processor system, found it to be nearly as competitive as the Core i3, i3 having a slight upper hand.

Alright so Pentium quad Core vs i3.

Lets take intel core i3–8100(8th gen)(Launching in Q4 2017) and Intel pentium D1519(launched in Q2 2016).

Major difference comes in Frequency. i3 one runs at 3.6GHz while Pentium works on 1.50GHz base and 2.10GHz boost.

Then comes TDP. i3 has 65W TDP while pentium has 25W TDP. Pentium needs alot less power to run.

Now most of you will be getting a Graphics Card if building a new PC but still,i3 has its own graphics(ie intel UHD 630) which can be used for casual usage of PC but don’t expect to game on it.

Whereas Pentium doesn.t have any integrated graphics. This can be considered as a good thing or bad depending on you.

So the conclusion is if you just want a system for browsing internet and typing word documents and watching movies and you are on a really tight budget then only go for Pentium orelse i3 is much better.

Short answer is go with the i3 laptop.

Long answer

Both perform similar but depends which i3 and core2quad you comparing. For a desktop gaming core2quad would be the best option but an I3 is much much more efficient and would perform very close to the quadcore..The i3 battery will last the longest because the core2quads are still on the 45nm manufacturing process where the i3 are on 32nm. The i3 has a built in memory controller so there's no need for a northbridge like on the core2quads which also result in lower power consumption. The i3 most likely comes with ddr3 so switching between programs is slightly faster.

This really comes down to what will you be doing. If you are gaming, either will do. But if you are editing, then the i3 will be the winner as it has hyper threading which the Pentium doesn't offer.

But to be honest if editing is not what you will be doing, then go with the cheaper one.

Let's discuss some weird thinks .

In the current generation(9th gen and 10gen)

9th gen INTEL I3s FLAGSHIP (or the most beastly i3)

I3 9350K vs Pentium g4560

I3 advantages

Avx2 instructions

A FREAKING DEMON WITH ALL CORE 4.5GHZ AND CAN GO TO 5GHZ TO RIVAL A I7 OR R7 IN GAMING

Better IGPU

A true quad core(vs Pentium virtual quad core)

Pentium advantages-

Better Price to Perfromance

At this moment (December 2017) I’m not sure there really is much difference. The Pentium G4620 is based on the Kaby Lake architecture, just like the 7-series i3s. Just like the 7-series i3s the Pentium has Hyper Threading and two processing cores for four threads. They both have intel 630 integrated graphics and both use identical 1151 sockets. In fact the only real difference between the two is that the i3 supports AVX2.0 while the Pentium has no AVX support and the Pentium has a lower core clock.

As a point of interest UserBenchmark places the performance of the i3–7100 as about 4–5% greater than the Pentium G4620:

Intel Core i3-7100 vs Pentium G4620 [ http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-G4620-vs-Intel-Core-i3-7100/3895vs3891 ]

Interestingly, the i3–7100 clock is 3.9ghz, which is about 5% faster than the G4620’s 3.7ghz core clock. So the Pentium’s performance is directly inline with what you’d expect of the same generation i3 with the same clock rate.

It’s my belief that the current crop of Pentium processors are simply i3s that failed to test well enough after manufacture for the i3 brand. Thus they’re sold for a lower price with some features turned off and a lower clock rate. This is a fairly standard practice in CPU marketing and development.

Thanks to Charles Ellis for the request.

The only advantage Pentium Quad Core has over i3, is lower TDP(thermal design power) of 7.5W, compared to 35W and 15W(3rd gen and 4th gen variant) of i3, on other counts i3 wins but by a slight margin if one is more of a basic user. I own a laptop with N3540 PQC processor so good battery back up and low heating of laptop because of lower TDP

Over the years, Intel launches new series of processors. They come with different architecture than its predecessors. Much depends on the architecture. Core I-family processors have an architecture that provides better heat dissipation, which improves performance a lot, increasing the battery life (in laptops). A core i3 is better than a pentium quad core of same clock-rate as its architecture is better than the latter. That seriously doesn't depend on the nunber of cores. Pentium quad core has definitely 4 cores against 2 cores of i3. But that doesnt matter as far as a single task is concerned. Moreover, the performance is judged on the efficiency of processor to handle a single task. Core i3 is better than quad core pentium on that matter. Core i3 architecture enables it to consume less power than the former. That is a very important aspect that drastically improves the performance. Even when you are buying a processor, don't judge them by the number of cores in them. Its better to judge them by their clock rates, architecture, power consumed amd TDP (Thermal Design Power - which is maximum amount of heat generated by processor that is required to be dissipated by the CPU cooler).

Conclusion here is Core i3 is better than Pentium Quad Core even if its number of cores are less. Remember, number of cores matters least.

Hope you got your answer.