I'm looking into laptops and wanted to find out if anyone knew which of
the following 3 processors was fastest. I assume the duo processer is
faster then the Pentium M but wasn't sure about the AMD.
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 (1.70GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ Duo processor T2300 (2MB Cache/1.66GHz/667MHz FSB)
AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-34 (1.8GHz/1MB L2 Cache)
You are correct that the Core Duo T2300 will be faster than the
Pentium M 735, though how much faster will depend on whether or not
your application is multithreaded. In single-threaded stuff the Core
Duo chip won't be much faster if at all. However given that it's two
chips in one package, when it comes to multithreaded stuff or
multitasking it will be SIGNIFICANTLY faster.
The AMD Turion, on the other hand, is going to be slightly different
in terms of performance. Generally speaking it'll probably be a tiny
bit faster than the Intel chips in single-threaded tasks, though it'll
be close enough for most things to call it a draw. The one area where
the AMD chip might shine somewhat is in games, though in that
situation you're likely to be FAR more limited by your video card than
your processor. Of course, the Core Duo chip is going to be the
obvious choice again for multithreaded apps or multitasking (FWIW AMD
plans on releasing their dual-core Turion 64 X2 chips to compete with
Core Duo within the next few months.. June if memory serves).
From my perspective, if cost is a limiting factor than the AMD chip is
probably the best bet as it should offer as good or better performance
but at a lower cost. On the other hand, if your budget allows, the
Core Duo chip is the obvious choice.
