Why only a dual core in this day and age?

I think you're right that Apple is likely taking good advantage of dual cores when available.

My biggest concern was the fact that it's a global, and dual core so I thought the battery life would be horrible.

Not tried a dual core one and they may alleviate things...

Intel makes many different products, and has switched to dual core, 64-bit processors in 2006.

The chips are based on an architecture known as dual core.

I know I read the article and wondered why no dual core.

Internally, we expect the dual cores to launch at a slightly lower speed.

"We don't frankly see the need for dual core," he said.

The new one uses over 50% (remember its dual core).