Generally speaking the current generation of Core i3/i5/i7 have about 20% more

processing power than their Core 2 Duo counterparts.

Core i3:
-Dual Core CPU
-Hyper Threading

Core i5:
-Dual Core CPU
-Slightly higher clock speeds than core i3
-Hyper Threading
-Turbo Boost (it's like an automatic overclock if the CPU is not too hot)

Core i7:
-Dual Core CPU (models ending with M)
-Quad Core CPU (models ending with QM)
-Higher clockspeed than the Core i5
-Hyper Threading
-Turbo Boost
-Virtualization (you can run multiple operating systems at the same time)
-Has circuitry that allows for easier and more secure remote access for corporate
IT departments to trouble issues in a business environment.
-AE5 New Instruction set (No idea what this is)