HP Turion X2 TL-50 17" vs Core 2 15"

Hey all. My budget for a new Laptop is about 1250.00. I was leaning toward an HP Core 2 Duo 15", then I stumbled on this deal for a Turion X2 17" for $899.00. Is a Core 2 Duo THAT much better? I've been leaning toward the HP cause I think the form factor is really slick. I don't NEED gaming power but it would be a bonus. Any other suggestions would be appreciated

Here's the 17" Turion X2. I'm pretty sure it has GeForce Go 6150 and an 8 Cell battery

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-P...69879/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

The Turion X2 with a Go 6150 will run VERY hot in comparison to the Core 2 Duo with a different chipset. My friend had a dv6000z with the Turion X2 and 6150 and he said that he was extremely disappointed with it and wished he had bought the Core 2 Duo.

I have the Core 2 Duo with a Go 7400 and couldn't be happier, you get what you pay for.

 

I have owned both X2 and Core Duo. The X2 does not run that hot. It depends on the cooling the laptop maker decided to go with. However, The Core2Duo is a better chip performance wise.
I have the Dell M1210 now and the 7400 video chip and the coreduo run everything great. I have no regrets on having the Dell M1210.
Before this I had the MSI S271 and it had a lot of tech. problems which have been resolved.

 

I've got a dv9008nr sitting on my lap right now (Best Buy's label for the same notebook Circuit City sells). It doesn't run hot. For web browsing and other lightweight use the TL50 is fine. The GeForce 6150 is Vista Aero Glass capable. If you want to game you'll want a dedicated GPU though. There are faster Turions and a GeForce 7600 option if you buy a configure-to-order from hp.com. I have a desktop PC for when I need firepower.

I configured a dv9000z with TL56 CPU, GeForce 7600, 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth, 80GB 5400RPM HD, Lightscribe DVD burner, Vista Home Premium, 1GB RAM and webcam for $1253. I strongly recommend spending the extra $125 for 2GB RAM for Vista... then again, RAM is easy to upgrade later.

 

If you are on a budget, I'd get the RAM now...later you might not have the money and it could potentially cost you more in the long run (as in HP charges $125 for the upgrade but someone like NewEgg charges $175 for two new RAM chips).

 

here's another: 2 GB RAM, faster Turion + more L2 cache no Vista, no tax.... man, this is tough !

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834147282

 

I've got a DV2000 with a Turion X2 TL50. Does not run hot at all, never gets too hot to have on my lap. Same can't be said for a friends Dell with a Core 2 Duo.

Speed wise, in every day usage you're not going to really see a difference. Using my friends laptop as an example, it does not feel any faster to me. (It's a T5500) OK it may do SuperPi about 20 seconds faster, but who really cares when on a day-to-day basis it does not really matter.

That's my thoughts anyway...