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• AMD's Dual Core Laptops Have Arrived: Introducing the Turion 64 X2

  AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core Processor... (3 offers) Online shop Price Amazon.com $190.32 Unbeatable Sale $224.10 Buy.com $224.10 See more products On May 17, 2006, AMD announced its first 64 bit dual-core laptop processors: the Turion 64 X2 series. Thanks to its two processor cores, these CPUs are capable of concurrently running several applications. This means that they substantially reduce input delays when the user switches tasks, and enable the development of much more powerful laptops. Even better, power consumption is apparently not much higher than that of its predecessor, the Turion 64. Unlike its competitor, AMD's Turion 64 X2 mobile platform is open: the chipset and WLAN components are not made exclusively by AMD, but come from renowned manufacturers like ATI, nVidia, Airgo, Atheros and Broadcom. However, this won't be the case for long, as ATI is reported to be joining the AMD fold shortly... Be that as it may, ATI offers two chipset variants for Turion 64 X2 laptop processors: the Radeon Xpress 1100 and 1150. nVidia's portfolio features a combination of nForce Go 430 MCP and GeForce Go 6150 IGP for these CPUs. Both chipsets have integrated graphics cores. Guerilla Marketing For The Turion 64 X2 In terms of communication and distribution policy, AMD follows a number of new, surprising strategies for its latest mobile processor. For the first time, the AMD Notebook Portal provides information to potential Turion 64 X2 customers about available laptops based on the mobile CPU. This is a smart, totally new approach. Instead of sending test machines to editorial offices, AMD searched for 50 qualified laptop testers on the Internet (see "AMD Provides Bloggers with Laptops"). The bloggers were given the opportunity to gain a first impression of the performance and stamina of the devices even before the media representatives. Their opinions, impressions, and results were published in a blog specially created for the purpose. Of course, a blog won't answer the question of whether AMD's Turion 64 X2 with ATI's Radeon Xpress 1100 chipset can challenge the Intel technology based on Core Duo and the 945GM chipset, in terms of battery life and performance. Therefore, in keeping with tradition, THG decided to compare old with new, pitting the old Turion 64 against the new Turion 64 X2 and the competition. AMD has also introduced yet another new feature, now selling its Turion 64 X2 laptops in its "own" web shop. The shop is expected to go online at http://shop.amd.com/US-EN/ in August. Join our discussion on this topic

• AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core Processor... (3 offers) Online shop Price Amazon.com $190.32 Unbeatable Sale $224.10 Buy.com $224.10 See more products We do not need to go into too much detail about the Compaq nx6325, as we will discuss it shortly in a separate article. But we'll provide you with just one interesting fact: the laptop is the legitimate successor to the Compaq nx6125, which we consider to be the best business laptop based on the "old" single-core Turion 64. ... but with the new Mobility Radeon X1150 chipset, which has a higher clock rate (image shows the Northbridge) Similar to the old model, it has a first-rate case and diverse security functions, such as a fingerprint sensor and a Trusted Platform Module. The display of the nx6325 is still matte, as on the predecessor. Depending on the model, the display provides XGA or SXGA+ resolution (as in our model, the EY351ET). With a 54 Wh standard battery, it weighs approximately 6.2 lbs. As you would expect, we used the MSI S270 and the HP Compaq nx6125 as AMD Turion 64 reference systems, both equipped with the single-core AMD Turion 64 and the graphics subsystem Mobility Radeon X300, which is integrated in the chipset. Various laptops models from LG Electronics, Dell, and Asus provided figures for the Intel faction, i.e., the single and dual core processors Pentium M 7xy and Core Duo T2xyz. The LG LW60 is considered to be one of the fastest Pentium M laptops in the market. Asus A6000 delivered CPU performance values for the Core Duo T2500. We determined pure CPU performance on the basis of these laptop models. Asus W5F provided the system performance values with Sysmark 2004 SE. Dell Inspiron 9400 17" model with Core Duo T2400 and integrated graphics (950GMA) We opted for the Dell Inspiron 9400 to compare the battery life of the opponents Intel Core Duo T2400 and AMD Turion 64 MT-37/AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60. As the graphics core is integrated in the chipset, this laptop is especially suitable for comparing the power consumption of the Intel and AMD platforms, as the result is not affected by power-hungry dedicated graphics chips.