X-bit labs

AMD Turion 64 Compared Against Intel Pentium M

by Anton Shilov

[ 08/30/2005 | 11:16 PM ]

Historically Advanced Micro Devices could not offer anything competitive enough with Intel mobile processors. However, due to fundamental changes in the chip architecture at AMD, the recently introduced AMD Turion 64 products seem to be viable alternative for Intel Centrino mobile platform from some perspectives.

Laptop Logic web-site has posted a review that compares performance and battery life of Acer TravelMate 8104 and Acer Ferrari 4005 laptops running Intel Pentium M 760 (2.0GHz) and AMD Turion 64 ML-37 (2.0GHz) microprocessors and equipped with similar 4800mAh batteries.

Based on performance results in 21 benchmarks as well as detailed architecture and feature-set analysis the web-site believes that “unless battery life while performing CPU-intensive tasks is paramount, choosing a Turion-based laptop over a Dothan-based laptop is recommended”. Still, Intel Pentium M processor based on the Dothan core has its own advantages, the web-site believes.

“When making your own decisions about platforms, it is important to keep in mind that there are few available Turion-based laptops compared to the countless Dothan-based laptops on the market. And even though Turion overall was superior, Dothan is no slouch either. Although the Pentium M lost most of the benchmarks, it trailed behind by a mere 5% or less most of the time. Its efficient architecture means that even when performing the most strenuous tasks, battery life is guaranteed to be long. x86-64 (64 bit) support is still not necessary, as a 32bit version of Microsoft Vista will also be released. Don’t feel pressured to choose Turion if the machine doesn’t have the features or options you want: Intel’s Pentium M processor will also satisfy most user’s needs very well,” Laptop Logic notes.

• Laptop Logic: Clash of the Titans: Dothan vs. Turion.