AMD Turion X2 vs. Turion 64

I just ordered a new Dell laptop with an AMD Turion X2 TL-50 at 1.6 GHz. To my surprise, I found that the AMD Turion 64 MK-36 I upgraded from runs at 2 GHz!

I know the X2 is dual core and that is why it is more expensive. However, each core is 400 MHz slower than the Turion 64.

I plan on using the laptop for multimedia, Word, web browsing, and light gaming. Do you think the Turion 64, which would save me $50, would have been a better choice? It is not too late for me to change my order.

 

I would stay with the dual-core processor. Most of the time, the processor is going to run at 800MHz, so you won't notice a difference between the two. Even in gaming, the bottleneck in your notebook is going to be the video card; the integrated Radeon X1150 is a slow integrated card and is not really capable of modern gaming. What sort of games are you going to play, exactly?

Either way, stay with what you have. Dual-core speeds up multitasking and helps to make your computing experience smoother. In the future, more programs are going to take advantage of a dual-core processor so there is another reason to keep the X2.

 

The Radeon X1150, from what I've heard, is a Radeon x300 at the core (correct me if I'm wrong). I already have a desktop with a Geforce 7800 GT so I won't be doing any major gaming on the laptop, but I wouldn't say no to playing some less demanding games on trips with it, such as the original Call of Duty, Civilization 3, etc. If I'm lucky I may be able to get F.E.A.R. playing on low after some tweaking.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I will keep the dual core. This is my first laptop so I want to make sure it's right. I think I will be happy with it.

 

Nowadays the clock speed really doesn't matter. It's about the architecture. The dual-core has a big design advantage over the Turion 64.