Turion 2.0 GHz vs. Core Duo 2.0 GHz

sorry if this has been discussed before, but I've looked all over and can't decide from what little info I've found which would be a better choice. I'm going into college and will be buying a new notebook very soon. I was very positive on getting a Latitude D820 with a 2.0GHz Core Duo, but then I've heard that the Turion is much more effective and costs less. Also, I was told that the bus on the Turion is larger and therefore can process more than the Core Duo. Keep in mind I'm not a computer whiz and most of what I know I've picked up on the internet over the past few weeks. Any opinions on which would be a better choice is greatly appreciated.

 

an Intel Core Duo will smash a Turion anyday (except maybe Turion X2, but that will be slashed by Intel Core 2 Duo )

 

ah, an intel man.

I have found that almost whenever this question comes up in laptops, desktops, or whatever.... they'll be die-hard faithful to one camp or the other.

Like the bumper sticker says "I'd rather push a chevy than drive a ford" or a more modern version would be "I'd rather render on a Intel than do CAD on an AMD"

EDIT: and for the record - I do not know which would be faster. My advice would be search some of the review/benchmarking sites and get an idea from there

 

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2648

this is not a direct comparison, but i think it will give you a reasonable comparison. they compare the core duo to the athlon x2 desktop processors. since these guys are dual cores and are meant for desktops, they are stronger performers than the turions. this set of benchmarks show that the core duo perform on par with the athlon x2s. thus, we can extrapolate that the core duos are better than turions.

 

There was a review on Andantech or tom's hardwar comparing Turion X2 and Core Duo Core Duo came out on top in most of the comparisons, although you have to remember that 64-bit is still new so drivers and OSes as well as games are not designed for it yet.

Example: A gaming website did test runs with CS Source modified for x64 and 32 bit game play on a dual core athlon 64 X2 system, and higher FPS was achieved through 32 bit.

That means whatever performance 64 bit will bring won't be utlized till about a year down the line, when probably Vista comes out I'm guessing. I would personally wait until August and see how the Core 2 Duo and the Turion X2 face each other.

 

Coming from someone who owns a Turion laptop and an Opteron desktop (an AMD man at the moment), I think right now the Core Duo will own the Turion in WinXP 32 in both speed and power aspects.

When Vista comes along with 64 bit apps I could still use the Turion. However I realize by then the contest will be between TurionX2 vs Core Duo 2.

 

The Turion "worked" as a notebook CPU but it was not by any strech of the means killing the Pentium M's and Intel's new line-up. In performance and power usage.
AMD has struggled with chipsets in my opinion. Having to use Broadcom for this, ATI for motherboard and most of their motherboard chipsets. SIS has never made a good motherboard chipset really...
I had a L2105CL Turion HP until it was stolen this weekend. With the insurance money I plan to buy a DV1000 loaded with 1gb DDR2, T2400 Duo Core and all the jazz. I definitely notice Intel has the power edge.
I had a Turion 1.6ghz 1mb cache and it would barely make it through a 2hour long class.
Intel has a money monopoly going on with their notebooks which allow them some price gouging and at times performance benefits...
Intel wifi / NIC / mobo / cpu / video card.
Meanwhile AMD is...AMD cpu, ATI integrated video, broadcom nic's.

AMD is gaining mobile markets by offering several sub-$1000 laptops that can be much more tempting then Intel and what they offer.

 

i say go for the core duo