Can someone please explain to me the difference between laptop proccesors and all these other things?

[Kevin]

Atom are mainly for the netbooks. Low powered comsumption processors but also lacks in processing power. You will have a great time on facebook and yahoo chat but don't think about pushing it any further.

Duel Core is two core on one processor, just double the speed of a single. That is doable for what you want but if you plan to have the computer for a while, then duel core isn't going to cut it these days.

Quad Core is twice the power of the duel just about...not to get technical since your learning but just look at it that way. There is more math calculations behind that. that is good for what you want and Quad will last you a good while till you have to upgrade. This will play your netflix and very good for schooling.

If you can spare the money, maybe for a in the middle laptop these days, try for a i3-i5 computer which is intel's processor and they can handle a little more than the average user but it will last a lot longer in the long run.