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Turion technology is AMD new platform to compete against Intel's Centrino technology. However, AMD is not requiring specific CPU - Chipset - Wireless combo to be claimed as Turion technology, unlike it's counterpart at Intel. Due to this reason, Turion technology battery life varies widely depends on the selected combo by the manufacters.

Usually Turion technology requires the following:

(1) AMD 64 Turion Processor
(a) ML family: 1.6Ghz - 2.4 Ghz TDP: 35W
(b) MT family: 1.6Ghz - 2.2 Ghz TDP: 25W

(2) AMD Supported Chipsets (integrated graphics)
(a) ATI
(b) Via
(c) Sis

(3) Wireless and Bluetooth (optional) connectivity
(a) Broadcom
(b) Atheros
(d) Others

For Option (1) and (2) Low power consumption should be your main priority.
(1)
It's very hard to find a MT-based laptop for some unknown reason. But if you were to look into low budget laptop, and does not see a need for 64-bit computing in the near future, it might be a better idea to look for Sempron Mobile CPU for faster speed. Ie. It's much more cost effective to chose a Sempron 3300+ (2.0Ghz w/ 128kb cache) over ML-28 (1.6Ghz w/ 512 cache.) Not only that, you would also see a lower power consumption 25W vs 32-35W.

(2)
Currently, ATI is claiming a larger portion for AMD-based laptop due to its higher performance integrated graphic Radeon® Xpress 200M.

Sis chipset consists of an integrated Mirage 2 Integrated Graphic.

Via chips consists of an integrated Unichrome Pro Integrated Graphic.

Out of these 3 integrated options, only ATI is able to offer more graphic performance than Intel Centrino Solution. Also, all 3 options will consume more battery power with ATI leading the pack.

There are also real GPU for the laptop segment (full-size), the only two competitors are ATI and Nvidia in this segment.

(3)
As for wireless connectivity there are chipset makers for wireless. Battery life performance is important, but in a wireless laptop the user will probably want a better reception range from their wireless hotspot rather than saving 5 minutes of battery life (worst case.) Broadcom and Atheros power consumption is lower and has a wider reception range than the Intel's solution, suprisingly.

Personal Recommendation for long battery life: (1) Sempron (3000+/3300+)- MT-32+ Turion, (2) ATI Xpress 200M, (3) Broadcom chipset.

There are other factors such as LCD size/power consumption, HD configuration, and memory configuration that makes a big difference in battery performance. But that is another topic.


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by DSLarggggg See Profile edited by Cho Baka See Profile
last modified: 2006-03-05 08:40:46