If you check Turion x2 review against Merom, they are pretty close to each other. K8 is formidable enough to go neck to neck with Core 2 architecture in mobile space already. Hence, including K10's IMC with some prefetching algorithm and 2xcache size should help to improve K8 even further. Another noteworthy improvement is the power management on the CPU. It is more advanced than current Core 2's offering. Not even Penryn can fight in this.

This post has been edited by charge-n-go: May 24 2007, 06:00 PM

Currently Intel has the best Desktop and Mobile lineup. Server is a half-half, depends on the server configurations.

Next year, the story might be a lil different. If Barcelona family has the performance as promised, AMD will dominate desktop and server performance again. Mobile is a half-half though, with Penryn vs Turionx2.

FYI, Core2Duo mobile processor is more energy efficient than Turionx2, esp. the upcoming Penryn series.

I love this - kill the bird and smash the eggs

anyway, Penryn power management architecture isn't great (identical to merom), but the process tech itself is great. There is no voltage plane control and per core frequency throttle like Puma. If 1 of the core in Penryn is loaded, the whole CPU will be running at the maximum voltage (and probably frequency, depends on the load pattern).

What i meant is, laptop CPU doesn't need the performance ike a server or desktop CPU, because the HDD, RAM and graphic is so much behind the desktop/server parts. Even if it has a powerful CPU like K10, it still can manage the power envelop below 35W if the clock and voltage is low enough (like 1.2GHz/1.1V). However, it is not needed given that HDD space and RAM size is so small for virtualization or huge database / scientific processing. The increased internal BW and higher parallel processing in K10 won't have a great effect when the RAM is so slow and limited, and the HDD is access time is so darn long. Of course, hardcore gamers can't even benefit from K10 due to the pathetic internal graphics This scenario is very well reflected in Core 2 Duo. Conroe smokes K8 in desktop when paired with fast RAM and FSB, while in mobile system Merom leads K8 just a little.

IMHO, maybe one day when the whole laptop system reached a certain level of performance, K10 shall be implemented for lappy CPU design.

This post has been edited by charge-n-go: May 25 2007, 11:30 AM