real processor speed

[naka-pako]

looking at an ibm t23 running win xp. system properties show the cpu to be a "pIII M 1200Mhz" and below that it says "790 mhz". a little confusing. how do i determine the actual speed and why is it showing this in sys properties?

thanks,
d;)....

[Ferrit]

Since it looks like this is an IBM thinkpad. I assume its powering down or throttleing back the cpu

[Damned Angel]

Correct, the "M" stands for mobile, mobile processors throttle the speed to what ever the needs at that time are. This reduces the heat they generate, which in turn saves power by reducing the amount of time the fan needs to come on to cool the processor down. There should be a speedstep utility loading on start up that will let you control the cpu throttle.