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AMD Plants Turion Line of Mobile Chips

Posted by michael on from the watch-it-grow dept.

dsginter writes "Today, AMD has blessed us with their Turion line of chips. Though it is supposed to compete with Intel's Centrino line, with such a name, one has to wonder if AMD is going after the Celeron, the name of which is derived from the latin word, 'celer', meaning 'fast' or 'swift', as in 'celery' - the fastest of all vegetables."

163 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. I don't like asparagus though ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Looks like I'll have to buy Intel or Apple for my next laptop then.

    1. Re:I don't like asparagus though ... by mirko · · Score: 1

      If it's an asparagus, it looks one doesn't have to be in soviet Russia to think the Turion might piss you off... :)

      --
      Trolling using another account since 2005.
    2. Re:I don't like asparagus though ... by sharkey · · Score: 1

      Go with the Apple. While it may make your lap uncomfortably warm and on fire, at least it's not armed with a terrorist weapon."

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  2. Ever wondered.. by Gentlewhisper · · Score: 1

    If this will be the next Centrino?

    If so, then Intel has very few cards left to play.... :)

    --
    Online backup with Mozy, sounds like Ozzie, but more!
    1. Re:Ever wondered.. by JaF893 · · Score: 1

      It can easily crush AMD with just marketing.

      If Intel can easily crush AMD why hasn't it done so allready?

    2. Re:Ever wondered.. by hattig · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There's a massive difference between designing a microprocessor with lots of different functional units, especially one that has to be compatible with a crufty ISA like x86, and compete in terms of performance and price with the market leaders, than designing a graphics core.

      The "Centrino CPU" was designed by Intel you idiot, the core is a tweaked PIII with power management and other stuff, and the system interface has merely been upgraded to the P4 bus for greater bandwidth.

      There's a big difference between transistors that need to operate at 600MHz and those that need to operate at 3+ GHz as well, that is where the major difference in power consumption comes in. Consider that the Pentium M uses under 20W (a lot less than a graphics card does) and competes very well with a fast P4 in many areas. It is the last extra bit of performance that costs.

    3. Re:Ever wondered.. by WillerZ · · Score: 1

      Because they would be sued under antitrust law. It's happened to IBM in the past, and Microsoft more recently. Intel know they're not immune to it.

      Phil

      --
      I guess today is a passable day to die.
    4. Re:Ever wondered.. by FrankNFurter · · Score: 1

      The Pentium M is not based on the PIII. It has a newly developed core designed by Intel Israel.

      --
      "Slashdot - the one place on the internet where guys brag about how small it is." - that IT girl
    5. Re:Ever wondered.. by Anarke_Incarnate · · Score: 1

      bullshit, it has its origins in the P6 core just like the Pentium Pro and the Pentium 2, the Katmai P3, the original celeron, the Cumine P3 and the Tualatin P3. Intel Israel built it from the ashes of the P6 core.

    6. Re:Ever wondered.. by hattig · · Score: 1

      Yeah yeah yeah, oddly enough this new core shares an amazing amount of similarities to the PIII ... I wonder why, oh wait! They took the PIII core, and spent some time modifying it for low power operation. This was purely a response by Intel to Transmeta, just showing that Intel can be pushed into doing decent stuff if gently poked sometimes.

    7. Re:Ever wondered.. by SymphonicMan · · Score: 2, Informative

      "Intel didn't design the Centrino CPU's...some 3rd party Indian fab did. And they look a lot more like an AMD or Motorola chip than an Intel."

      Sorry, that's just wrong. The Pentium M is based on a Pentium III core, and it was designed by Intel engineers in Israel.

    8. Re:Ever wondered.. by enigmals1 · · Score: 1

      Why all the name calling?!! geez, you'd think I insultted yo' mamma or something! You guys getting paid by Intel?! anyway... I think this is where you all are getting confused. I never said Pentium M!! I said Centrino. The P-M is the one based off the PIII. Centrino is not!

    9. Re:Ever wondered.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Are you stupid? Or being sarcastic? Pentium Ms ARE Centrinos. Or at least they fall under the Centrino category.

    10. Re:Ever wondered.. by static0verdrive · · Score: 1

      You people are all screwy. AMD makes fistfulls of dough. Otherwise they would've quit the biz. PS - I'm not saying this just because I have an AMD FX-51, I also have a P3 733 and love it. It's lasted forever, and worked flawlessly the whole time. No bias here, just simple business sense.

      --
      ========
      77 77 77 2e 6d 65 6c 76 69 6e 73 2e 63 6f 6d
    11. Re:Ever wondered.. by Kulaid982 · · Score: 1


      Centrino refers to the whole Intel package, whatwith the Pentium M processor, and the integrated wireless, and the extended battery life and all the other goodies and whatnot!

      --

      Isn't it interesting how you come to recognize posters based solely on their sigs???
  3. If the Celeron is named after celery... by TheSwirlingMaelstrom · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...does this mean that the Turion is named after the fastest of all roots, the turnip?

    --
    #include "cunning_plan.h"
    1. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by Gh0st_Preacher · · Score: 1

      Much like ball park nachos: Ya don't buy 'em, you only rent 'em.

    2. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by Mario21 · · Score: 3, Funny
      From the article: "Webster's says 'turion' means a young shoot, like asparagus". Is asparagus faster than celery? We'll see a tough competition there.

      Next in the news: Motorola announces its new product line for layered processor technology: "cabbagius"

    3. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by k4_pacific · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, Turion sounds like it might be derived from Turing. If this is the case, expect the chip to be boycotted by the religious right.

      --
      Unknown host pong.
    4. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Edmund: Now; minimum bribe level?

      Baldrick: One turnip. Oh, hang on, I don't want to price myself out of the market.

      Edmund: Baldrick, I've always been meaning to ask: Do you have any ambitions in life apart from the aquisition of turnips?

      Baldrick: Er, no.

      Edmund: So what would you do if I gave you a thousand pounds?

      Baldrick: I'd get a little turnip of my own.

      Edmund: So what would you do if I gave you a million pounds?

      Baldrick: Oh, that's different. I'd get a great big turnip in the country.

    5. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by bikiniAtoll · · Score: 1

      In the words of Augustus, velocius quam asparagi coquantur...

    6. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by chowdmouse · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Well according to the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board an asparagus planting is typically harvested after 3 years. Celery in your typical home garden is ready to cut after 90-120 days (according to this information from UC Davis.)

      So it looks like Celeron takes it. You should sell your AMD stock now.

      It is amazing where Slashdot takes me some days.

    7. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by Sebadude · · Score: 1

      The first thing I thought of is the Centurion, from the roman military. The commander of a century, a century being a unit of 100 men...

      --
      Eh.
    8. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by LordNimon · · Score: 2, Funny

      It something used to weed out the humorless. Apparently, it worked.

      --
      And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
      To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
    9. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by ajs318 · · Score: 1

      Yes, but don't forget Alan Turing committed suicide with an apple .....

      --
      Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
    10. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by Unkle · · Score: 1
      Well, according to http://www.kroger.com/HN_Healthy_Eating/Fiber_Cont ent.htm/, 4 medium stalks of asparagus has 0.9 grams of fiber, whereas one raw stalk of celery has 0.7 grams of fiber. So one stalk of celery has more fiber than one stalk of asparagus. As someone with a stomach that is sensitive to fiber, I would say that celery would be faster.

      Not that I actually know, as both of them taste like pure evil.

      --
      Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
    11. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by CaptnMArk · · Score: 1

      Did Centurions eat a lot of vegetables?

    12. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 1

      If it's running WinXP without any service packs, it WILL be the fastest root. :)

      --
      Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
      Africus aut Europaeus?
    13. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by canadiangoose · · Score: 1

      My potato gun can show you a fast vegetable.

      After dark is the best time to demonstrate fast vegetables, because sometimes you can see the purple streak of flaming butane chase the spud across the sky.

      Mmmmm... fast vegetables.

      --
      Never eat more than you can lift -- Miss Piggy
    14. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by beanlover · · Score: 1

      If I use this chip will it make my urine smell funny?

    15. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by BayBlade · · Score: 1
      I'm going to hell for this...

      There's alot of info about fast vegetables here

      --

      The key difference between a Programmer and a Senior Programmer is that one of them is Mexican.

    16. Re:If the Celeron is named after celery... by sydres · · Score: 1

      last time I checked 0.9 is more than 0.7 grams and seeing how four stalks of asparagus is about equal to the mass of one stalk of celery. never mind

  4. They need a cartoon ... by Lemurmania · · Score: 2, Funny

    Turion and Centrino need to have adventures in a magical Roman wonderland. I think Nick Junior could do this justice ...

    1. Re:They need a cartoon ... by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 1

      and I guess the main villian will be a G5.

      "A HA! I'am an artistic villian! I shall paint this town.. NEON PINK!"
      "OH NO YOU WON'T! WE COPYRIGHTED PINK TWO YEARS AGO! YOU HAVE TO BUY US BIG CARS AND LET US HOLD THE MONOPOLY IN THE MARKET FOREVER NOW G5!"
      "Curses.. where my open source pink?"

      Of course this will then air on Mtv, confuse the fanbase and be put back on Nick Jr. for a couple of weeks where it'll become cult among kids of geeks.. 3 of them who relised if they gave up Slashdot they could get laid. :)

      --
      I like muppets.
    2. Re:They need a cartoon ... by melandy · · Score: 1

      I'm sure that Veggie Tales would do fine as well. Plus this seems to be their specialty, anyway... animated veggies, that is.

    3. Re:They need a cartoon ... by Shad0wVypr · · Score: 1

      Indeed, and they both can be portrayed as being raised by wolves like Romulus and Reemus.

  5. Oh man... by inkdesign · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The company said it considered the dictionary definition too rare to hinder the chip's prospects."

    Well, at least they KNOW it's a shitty name.

    1. Re:Oh man... by radja · · Score: 1

      hey.. I _LIKE_ asparagus!

      --

      No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
      --Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
    2. Re:Oh man... by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 1

      The company said it considered the dictionary definition too rare to hinder the chip's prospects.

      "The Turion - it's a green processor."

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    3. Re:Oh man... by gotem · · Score: 2, Funny

      I am spartacus
      ... no wait

    4. Re:Oh man... by ALpaca2500 · · Score: 1

      Well, at least they KNOW it's a shitty name.

      much better than Sempron...

    5. Re:Oh man... by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1
      "The company said it considered the dictionary definition too rare to hinder the chip's prospects."

      Well, at least they KNOW it's a shitty name.

      I think AMD's statement is more along the lines of trademarks. A rare name is less likely to be trademarked. On the plus side, its rarity means it will more likely be remembered. My $0.02.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  6. I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by glrotate · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Isn't the CPU a Pentium III M?

    1. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by Stevyn · · Score: 1

      I thought centrino was just a collection of a bunch of things like 802.11b wireless, pentium M, and the 855 chipset. And the Pentium M is very similar to the Pentium III I believe.

    2. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by hattig · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's "Pentium M".

      The processors themselves have the codenames Banias (1MB 130nm part) and Dothan (2MB 90nm part).

      These AMD processors are most likely to be revision E0 core Athlon 64s. The E0 core is said to reduce power consumption by 25% over the D0 core. If processors have a 25W TDP already in the A64M range, then AMD should easily be able to get it down to 20W to compete with the Pentium M.

      Of course, the A64M will have half a northbridge incorporated into the processor, something that isn't included in the Pentium M TDP at the moment. Also the definition of Intel's TDP is different from AMD's TDP. Whilst arguments reign over the exact difference, it is agrees that Intel's processors generally run much closer to their TDP figure than AMD's.

      Also, the 533MHz Dothan processor, until recently, had a 27W TDP figure, because of the faster bus.

    3. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 1

      AFAIK, Centrino would be just as you describe. Turion would be the same but for mobile Athlon's???

      --

      Gorkman

    4. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by AnotherBlackHat · · Score: 2, Informative

      These AMD processors are most likely to be revision E0 core Athlon 64s. The E0 core is said to reduce power consumption by 25% over the D0 core. If processors have a 25W TDP already in the A64M range, then AMD should easily be able to get it down to 20W to compete with the Pentium M.

      If A64M had a 25W TDP even after the 25% reduction, I'd be extremely surprised.
      Maybe it draws that when in sleep mode...


      Also, the 533MHz Dothan processor, until recently, had a 27W TDP figure, because of the faster bus.


      I think you mean the 2.0 GHz Dothan with it's 533MHz bus.

      Although I applaud low power efforts, the 1.1 Ghz low voltage Dothan is suposedly under 7W, which beats the hell out of basically everything if all you are calculating is bogomips per watt.

      -- Should you believe authority without question?
    5. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by hattig · · Score: 1

      AMD already sells 25W TDP Athlon 64 mobile processors. Sure, they're 1.4GHz, but that is the current core. AMD also has a 35W mobile TDP that goes up to 1.8GHz or 2GHz IIRC.

      The 90nm Athlon 64s (up to 2.2GHz at the moment) which have a nominal TDP of 67W according to AMD seem to run under 40W at load according to tests done by multiple websites.

      I think you need to see that AMD have come a long long way from the old Athlon Thunderbird 1.4GHz! Those old Slashdot jokes about hot AMD processors were out of date a year agO. In the meantime, Intel is happy to push out a 130W Pentium 4 processor in the near future.

      And of course I meant the 533MHz bus Dothan at 2GHz. The faster bus does eat up a lot more power. AMD already has a large portion of the northbridge on board, and bypasses this issue.

    6. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by Tumbleweed · · Score: 1

      FYI: Pentium III M != Pentium M

    7. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by The+Salamander · · Score: 2, Informative

      > Although I applaud low power efforts, the 1.1 Ghz low voltage Dothan is suposedly under 7W, which beats the hell out of basically everything if all you are calculating is bogomips per watt.

      My 1.1GHz ULV Dothan reports:

      $ cat /proc/acpi/processor/CPU0/performance

      state count: 5
      active state: P0
      states:
      *P0: 1100 MHz, 5500 mW, 10 uS
      P1: 1000 MHz, 5000 mW, 10 uS
      P2: 900 MHz, 4500 mW, 10 uS
      P3: 800 MHz, 4300 mW, 10 uS
      P4: 600 MHz, 4000 mW, 10 uS

    8. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by Llama_STi · · Score: 1

      how do you already have a dothan processor? I thought that chip was to be released along with Sonoma?? You have it on the desktop? Please provide details as I've been drooling over that chip for the past six months! :)

    9. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by AnotherBlackHat · · Score: 1

      how do you already have a dothan processor?


      Newegg.com sells them mail-order.
      They also sell the Aopen i855 motherboard.
      Just do a search on their website for "dothan"

    10. Re:I thought centrino was the supporting chipset. by Llama_STi · · Score: 1

      hey, thanks very much for the info. :)

  7. sounds a bit rude! by Gumph · · Score: 1

    Turion - A thick fleshy young shoot or sucker
    oooh errr missus, titter yea not, NO, go on, really.

    I know sex sells but isn't this a bit OTT?

    --
    'By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes'
  8. Gardeners world by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought I had the wrong site for a minute.

    I was expecting CPU trees and shrubs. Hanging baskets overflowing with ddr modules.
    A garden shed filled with all kind of GNU/Linux branded tools, and a Microsoft compost heap.
    Infact, all sorts of strange things came to mind.

    anyway, it doesn't matter, nothing to see here, please move along.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  9. Not safe for work, surely? by TheGrim · · Score: 4, Funny

    "A thick fleshy young shoot or sucker, such as an emerging stem of asparagus."

    Seldom has a new cpu made me feel so tingly inside.

    1. Re:Not safe for work, surely? by value_added · · Score: 1

      "Seldom has a new cpu made me feel so tingly inside."

      Just be careful. Eating too much asparagus tends to produce nasty byproducts when tingling.

  10. Duron? by vasqzr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Duron was pretty close to 'Celeron' in name.

    1. Re:Duron? by Gumph · · Score: 1

      except Duron sounds like it should be a form of condom!

      --
      'By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes'
    2. Re:Duron? by Fallingcow · · Score: 1

      Wow, I never made that connection...

      Duron

      Durex

      You're right! heh.

    3. Re:Duron? by SWPadnos · · Score: 1

      So is "Moron", but they wisely chose not to use that name.

      --
      - The Sigless Wonder
    4. Re:Duron? by Toloc · · Score: 1

      you're missing the obvious predecessor - Hardon Duron Durex

  11. AMD has that much laptop market share!? by peterdaly · · Score: 1

    The news for me is that AMD has 9% of the laptop market. I had no idea it was that large, especially since I have shopped for a laptop recently, and the share didn't seem that big on store shelves.

    --
    Soccer Goal Plans
    1. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by Vague+but+True · · Score: 1

      Guess it depends on where you look. Circuit City had almost all Intel processor laptops while Best Buy had a better mix (about 15% of them were AMD).

      --

      I'm not a doctor, but I play one in bed.

    2. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by IANAAC · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The only 64bit laptops I've ever seen were AMDs.

    3. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by corngrower · · Score: 1

      Are there any other major brands besides HP pavilion that use AMD chips in their laptops?

      9% market shareis about what I'ld expect though.
      AMD needs to break in to designs that provide a good CPU power/Electrical power ratio.

    4. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by gvc · · Score: 1

      In my household our laptops are:

      p4 2G (toshiba)
      athlon 1500+ (compaq)
      athlon 2200 (averatec)
      celeron 2.2G (toshiba)

      So we're doing our bit to keep AMD's numbers up. In general I like the athlons better than either the P4 or the Celeron. The P4 is *hot* and only slightly faster than the athlon 1500. The Celeron is by far the slowest and the athlon 2200 is the fastest.

      I don't have accurate statistics of the fraction of AMD laptops on the store shelves, but they are plentiful enough to offer a decent selection.

    5. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by twistedcubic · · Score: 1

      Can you say something about the battery life you get with those?

    6. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by gvc · · Score: 1
      Nothing scientific. The p4 (2 years old) is down to about 10 minutes. It has thousands of energy-saving options and using them it was able to get more than 2 hours when new.

      The compaq (also 2 yrs old) is and always has been able to do 2 hrs+ and I've never seen or played with any cpu throttling. It's also much cooler on the lap and has a smaller battery.

      Don't really know about the Celeron.

      The Averatec is pretty new but it goes about 3 hours running Linux with no throttling. This is a compact unit (AV3250HX-01) with fairly small battery.

    7. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by Harbinjer · · Score: 1

      I bought an Emachines Athlon 64 3000+ last febuary at Best Buy. It also has 802.11g and a mobile radeon 9600.

      It doesn't have a great battery life, and it kinda big, but is really very powerful, and great for gaming. And I paid much less than I was expecting for such a powerful beast.

    8. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by Kulaid982 · · Score: 1


      I'm interested in your experience with installing Linux on the Averatec, as my girlfriend and I are very close to purchasing 2 AV3250HX's, and would really like to run Linux on them. If you don't mind sharing, please e-mail me at kulaid982yahoo.com
      Thanks!

      --

      Isn't it interesting how you come to recognize posters based solely on their sigs???
    9. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by QuaZar666 · · Score: 1

      Tadpool also sells a dual ultraspac III 1.2ghz laptop. kinda heavy weighing 20.5 pounds but supports two hard drives, up to 8Gb per processer, full size 64bit pci card, and scsi. Its sounds good , but I wouldn't want to lug that think around with me.

      http://www.tadpolecomputer.com/html/products/mobil e/bullfrog-dual/

      -Qua

    10. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by gvc · · Score: 1

      Sure. I sent it to you. In case anybody else is interested:
      here is a description of my installation

    11. Re:AMD has that much laptop market share!? by Anomalous+Communard · · Score: 1
      AMD has only about 9 percent of the market for notebook microprocessors, a business increasingly dominated by rival Intel Corp.
      WTF? If AMD has 9% and Intel's share is increasing, then what does that leave Apple? negative market share?
  12. The Tolkien Chip! by hndrcks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Turion sounds like some person or place from The Silmarillion.

    --
    Everyone will start to cheer when you put on your sailin' shoes.
    1. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by Xpilot · · Score: 1

      Turion sounds like some person or place from The Silmarillion.

      Sounds like "Turin" got mixed up with some other person whose name ended with "-ion" :)

      --
      "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
    2. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by pete-classic · · Score: 1

      How about Tirion on Túna?

      -Peter

    3. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by Xpilot · · Score: 1

      Wasn't there a Turgon too?
      Yeah but he didn't like to eat tuna.

      --
      "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
    4. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by pete-classic · · Score: 1

      Yup. That doesn't sound as close to me.

      -Peter

    5. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by Ubergrendle · · Score: 1

      ..and Tuor.

      Probably the most confusing the first time through reading the Silmarillion was remember the differences between Tuor, Turin, and Turgon.

      --
      John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
    6. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by corngrower · · Score: 1

      It looks kind of like the word Torino, which was some kind of car in the early 70's I think, and may be some Spanish word.

    7. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by syrinx · · Score: 1

      "Torino" is the Italian name for the city that English speakers call "Turin". (In the same way that the city of Venice is "Venezia" in Italian, or Roma/Rome, Firenze/Florence, etc.)

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    8. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by ThousandStars · · Score: 1
      You may be thinking of Turgon, Elven king of Gondolin, or Turin, a man who helped the Elves. There are also numberous proper nouns that end in "ion".

      Actually, I'd rather enjoy chips named after characters and events in the LOTR world. Intel could name its next chips after the fell creatures of Morgoth; AMD could name its chips after various humans; IBM could take Elvish names. Then we could read better flame wars, in which fanboys posit that, since Fingolfin rode alone and scarred Morgoth, IBM PPC rules; meanwhile, Intel fanboys could counter that, since Fingolfin ended up dead, that might not be such a wise comparison.

    9. Re:The Tolkien Chip! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      For me, the most confusing part was why I was reading this crap to begin with since I was neither planning to write a module for MERP nor working on founding the church of middle-earth. Then I stopped... kind of like when you stop beating your head against a brick wall.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  13. Veggie Tales by binaryDigit · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hi kids, this is Bob the Turion, and his sidekick, Larry the Celeron.

    1. Re:Veggie Tales by macrom · · Score: 1

      If you like to talk to transistors
      If big cache can make you smile
      If you like to waltz with capacitors
      Up and down the homebrew electronics aisle...(of Fry's)

      Have we got a processor showdown for you.

      Maybe now we can see AMD marching around the Intel headquarters while Intel hurls slushies at the competition.

      Or maybe I need to put a new CD in my car's player. But hey, my 3 year old isn't ready for Snoop Doog yet.

  14. GO AMD by crazy_pikachu · · Score: 1

    all I have to say is GO AMD!!! get in that market that you are missing out on. I would love to see them over take intell in sales for note books and desktops. things are looking good for AMD and I couldnt be happier. and who cares if they have a funny name as long as the CPU is fast as lightning then who cares.

    1. Re:GO AMD by fitten · · Score: 1

      all I have to say is GO AMD!!! get in that market that you are missing out on. I would love to see them over take intell in sales for note books and desktops. things are looking good for AMD and I couldnt be happier. and who cares if they have a funny name as long as the CPU is fast as lightning then who cares.

      Well... if all you care about is that the chip is fast as lightning, why do you care which company makes a faster chip, if all you care about is that the chip is fast as lighting? If Intel is faster (and currently it is), why wouldn't you buy it?

      I enjoy the benefits of the competition, but it doesn't matter to me who makes the faster/better chip and I will buy the faster/better one.

    2. Re:GO AMD by crazy_pikachu · · Score: 1

      I like AMD. I am a fan boy towards AMD becasue intell cpus have given me noting but trouble over the years. I know that some people have had a lot of success with there chips and I am not saying that there chips are bad I am just saying that I would buy an amd because I have had two intells that burnt out on me and then I have had 3 amd that have given me every thing but a problem. Also AMD has almost always proven that they are faster with games and i am a heavy gamer so that is another reason why I would buy an AMD. I dont just care about who has the fastes chip. the chip has to last a while too and AMD has never given me a problem with that

    3. Re:GO AMD by maidhc · · Score: 1

      I really dont think AMD is any less a 'big evil corporation' that Intel is, or that they need encouragment one way or the other.
      If they make a better chip that the Pentium M, thats great, but I dont think anyone will go out of their way to buy a chip because it simply is made by AMD.
      I don't think there is any rational reason for a non shareholder to care whether one commodity manufacturer sells more than another. The important thing is that the competition results in lowers prices and greater innovation for the consumer.
      However if you really feel the need to adopt an ailing processor manufacturer, may I suggest Transmeta!

    4. Re:GO AMD by lasindi · · Score: 1

      If Intel is faster (and currently it is), why wouldn't you buy it?

      I agree with the main thrust of your post (that one ought to go for the best product no matter who makes it), but I'm not sure you can say Intel is any more on the bleeding edge than AMD is. From my experience, you can get a considerably faster AMD CPU for the same amount of money; more bang for your buck. Also, AMD is kicking some serious Intel butt in the 64-bit department, as x86-64 becomes the standard and Itanium is tossed to the wayside.

      --
      I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem that this sig is too small to contain.
    5. Re:GO AMD by fitten · · Score: 1

      I do this. Currently, I have three Athlon64 desktops, two AthlonXP desktops, and one Pentium-M laptop. At the low end, AMD wins right now but the new crop of Dothan/533s just came out and all the benchmarks I've seen show that the Dothans win at integer work over similarly clocked A64s and at most integer work, nothing can touch Dothans when overclocked (shows headroom for products to come). I'm waiting to see the next Pentium-M with 64-bit instructions :) However, when the time comes for me to upgrade my AthlonXP boxes, I'll know what's the fastest/best then and upgrade accordingly.

      As far as Itanium, it isn't nor was it ever intended to be a consumer market product. Whether it lives or dies is of no concern to me.

      As far as the other poster who had bad luck with Intel chips, my guess is that he bought ultra-cheap/crap motherboards or is a clueless overclocker. I haven't had any problems with either Intel or AMD parts for many years. My first x86 (when I was dragged kicking and screaming into the Wintel world) was an AMD 386/40. Previous to this event, I bought almost anything *but* Wintel (Micro-ColorComputer was my first, Apple ][+, Apple ][c, and Atari 1040ST (not including my experience on Sun workstations, IRIX workstations (SGI), and other machines that I didn't actually own but worked on). Since then, I've owned a number of Pentium parts (including the infamous Pentium with the FPU bug), PentiumPro parts, PentiumIII parts, Pentium4 parts, and Athlon, AthlonXP, and now Athlon64 parts.

      I tend to be picky about what I buy and what I do with machines and I've yet to have any problems with any of my machines.

  15. Turian rhymes with durian by ajlitt · · Score: 2, Informative

    Stinkiest of all fruits.

    1. Re:Turian rhymes with durian by sowdog81 · · Score: 1

      which happens to be really stinking tasty!

    2. Re:Turian rhymes with durian by DJ+Rubbie · · Score: 1

      Dude, you know you could kill things with this fruit, so I supposed Turian could nicely spike and squish Celeron just like how a Durian could be used to spike and squish some Celery. It's a cool name for a possibly deadly processor!

      --
      Please direct all bug reports to /dev/null
  16. Great word, but what a definition?! Get some speed by solafide · · Score: 1

    Now I did not know turion, but it is adscititious to my vocabulary now. But why call it a bud of an aquatic plant at the bottom of a pond? Call it the Fulminate chip: to come on suddenly and intensely. That's a good definition! Billy

  17. That's strange... by aeroelastic · · Score: 1

    I can't seem to find any info about this chip on the AMD web page. Does anyone know any tech. specs?

    --
    "It doesn't take a rocket scientist" -I guess I should leave then
    1. Re:That's strange... by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      We don't care about specs or technical details or abilities around here. This is slashdot, the people here aren't to up on the details of technology, just the philosophy.

      All you need to know is that Intel is sucky and their processors suck! And AMD is awesome! The whole x86 architecture sucks and isnt as good as Apple G5 architecture used in the iPod. Intel may have wireless but AMD has bluetooth and AMD are WAY COOLER than Intel who are a bunch of jerks like Microsoft. AMD works better with linux and Apple.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    2. Re:That's strange... by aeroelastic · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected.

      I'll just go cry in the corner now.

      --
      "It doesn't take a rocket scientist" -I guess I should leave then
  18. PLANTS? by Hamstij · · Score: 2, Funny
    Huh? Does the modern chip require sandy soil? How much water does it need? Does it prefer lots of light but no direct sunlight?

    What colour flowers does it produce? And do they attract butterflies?

    Last of all, when is my local garden centre going to stock them?

  19. Celer = Fast? by entrager · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone else find it interesting that the Celeron was named after a fast vegetable?

    1. Re:Celer = Fast? by Scarred+Sun · · Score: 1

      Actually, the "celer" in question for celery isn't it. [Mid-17th century. Via French céleri from, ultimately, Greek selinon "parsley."] So, no overclocking your celery.

    2. Re:Celer = Fast? by wscott · · Score: 1
      Sorry that is wrong. Celery is not named for a latin word that means fast. Explination here.

      Celeron sounds like the english word celerity:

      From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

      Celerity \Ce*ler"i*ty\, n. [L. celeritas, from celer swiftm
      speedy: sf. F. c['e]l['e]rit['e].]
      Rapidity of motion; quickness; swiftness.
    3. Re:Celer = Fast? by antifoidulus · · Score: 1

      Random Simpson's reference time:
      Ralph Wiggum:Go bannana!

      --
      Monstar L
    4. Re:Celer = Fast? by Astrobirdr · · Score: 1

      Like wscott said: From celeritas : as in the 'c' in E=Mc^2: meaning the speed of light.

  20. Celeron - false advertising by rkischuk · · Score: 1
    "Celeron, the name of which is derived from the latin word, 'celer', meaning 'fast' or 'swift'"

    'fast' and 'swift' are NOT words I often hear associated with Celerons. Perhaps they should have gone with insumption or vilion. Is implying that Celerons are fast some sort of cruel joke?

    --
    Seen any BadMarketing lately?
    1. Re:Celeron - false advertising by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      They are faster than a Z80.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    2. Re:Celeron - false advertising by snorklewacker · · Score: 1

      In the PII days, regular Pentiums had cache that only ran at half speed. Celerons had half as much cache, but it was the same kind in the Xeon, which ran at full speed. This made them a good deal more snappy and amenable to overclocking. Gamers actually preferred them.

      Nowadays they're just a cheap CPU that aren't even worth the savings.

      --
      I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
  21. Keep dreaming by WaZiX · · Score: 1

    They'd never name a chip after you

    ;-P

  22. CentTurion? by Lispy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think they were after a pun for the ancient roman general: The Centurion

    Centrino - Turion

    This makes more sense to me than the celery ananlogy.

    1. Re:CentTurion? by Lispy · · Score: 1

      Actually this sounds like an episode trom STNG:
      "The celery analogy"

    2. Re:CentTurion? by syrinx · · Score: 1

      Actually this sounds like an episode trom STNG:
      "The celery analogy"

      Or a Robert Ludlum book.

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
    3. Re:CentTurion? by PureCreditor · · Score: 1

      So the American Express Centurion "black" card is the worse of Intel's and AMD's practices combined?

    4. Re:CentTurion? by johannesg · · Score: 1
      I think they were after a pun for the ancient roman general: The Centurion

      Actually a centurion was a low ranking officer who was in charge of a hundred men.

      Yes, you can actually learn something on slashdot! ;-)

    5. Re:CentTurion? by asr_man · · Score: 1

      And w/r/t Centrino, Turion is less likely to provoke a trademark lawsuit than Turino.

    6. Re:CentTurion? by Lispy · · Score: 1

      Yeah, totally. THAT was what it reminded me of. ;-)

    7. Re:CentTurion? by Lispy · · Score: 1

      Obvious, isn't it? But a hundred man is not that bad after all. Given that I am in charge of a cat and it won't follow my orders...

    8. Re:CentTurion? by belmolis · · Score: 1

      The closest analogue in modern armies to the centurion is probably a sergeant, in terms of the number of ranks and in that centurions, like sergeants, were usually in for life. On the other hand, in terms of the number of soldiers commanded, a centurion was more like a captain, since a Roman century was roughly the size of a modern US company, which is normally commanded by a captain.

  23. Hmmm...? by rnws · · Score: 1

    Centrino + Turion = Centurion...?

    There's gotta be a Cylon joke in there somewhere...

  24. No, my fine friend.. by adeyadey · · Score: 2, Funny

    The rapid radish is by far the swiftest of all vegetable crops! Kneel to the power of the radish! Bow, I tell you!

    --
    "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
    1. Re:No, my fine friend.. by Datafage · · Score: 1

      Hmm. Does that mean there needs to be a chip called the Radeon? Oh wait...

      --

      Nicotine free Amish .sig.

  25. A thick fleshy young sucker... by ajaxxx · · Score: 1

    That joke pretty much writes itself, doesn't it?

    1. Re:A thick fleshy young sucker... by Stanistani · · Score: 1

      Monica Lewinsky?

      --
      You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
  26. Long Live teh Asparagus Chipset! by untaken_name · · Score: 1

    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=turion

    --
    http://xkcd.com/386/
  27. Celery NOT fast by kahei · · Score: 4, Funny


    The article is factually wrong. I took a stick of celery, a beetroot, an artichoke, and a handful of lettuce and put them at one end of a track. At the other was a bowl of water and a sunlamp, to give them an incentive.

    After 5 minutes, they were all STILL moving at the SAME speed! One hour later, they are still neck and neck although the lettuce is beginning to look a little worn-out.

    I've had about enough of people pumping up one particular fruit or vegetable, with NO BASIS in actual testing. MOST vegetables travel at the SAME SPEED (unless you drop one, or fire it from a gun, or something) and there is no point paying more for a faster one.

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
    1. Re:Celery NOT fast by Astrobirdr · · Score: 1

      Gee, I'd expect the lettuce to win by a head ;-).

      I couldn't resist--it's Friday.

    2. Re:Celery NOT fast by Crash24 · · Score: 1

      You forgot the Mexican Jumping Bean, amigo.

    3. Re:Celery NOT fast by WaZiX · · Score: 1

      You must be kidding right? Didn't you get the whole point of this article was between the celery and the _aspargus_? If you had done reasearch you would have known that the asparguses aerodynamic design will clearly give him the edge in the race, making it the certain winner.

    4. Re:Celery NOT fast by AbbyNormal · · Score: 1

      Fool. You need to overclock them first.

      Place one foot in bucket of water, one hand in the bowl of water, wet edge of finger and stick into nearest NON-GFI electrical socket and voila.

      Instant results.

      --
      Sig it.
    5. Re:Celery NOT fast by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      You've made a common amateur mistake when benchmarking vegetables. You see, vegetables are very shy and in fact won't race at all while you are watching. Don't try putting a camera on them either; their evolved shyness allows them to easily detect when they are being observed.

      So put your vegetables back on the track, and leave them alone so they can race in privacy. They'll certainly have moved back to their starting positions by the time you return, but I'm sure you'll find them in concensus that the celery won handily. They didn't get their reputation for nothing!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    6. Re:Celery NOT fast by SmittyTheBold · · Score: 1

      It's not your fault; vegetables are notoriously hard to benchmark accurately. What you need is to come up with a real-world test for them to measure up against.

      --
      ± 29 dB
  28. fastest vegetable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I thought the fastest vegetable was the runner bean.

  29. AMD whupped Celeron long since by Selanit · · Score: 4, Informative

    AMD doesn't need to release a whole new line of processors just to compete with the Celeron -- they've had the Celeron beaten for years. AMD's Duron line was consistently cheaper and faster than Celeron -- I refer you to any one of a number of tech sites. Anandtech had a good "budget processor" article comparing Durons and Celerons a while back. Tom's Hardware would do too.

    More recently, AMD released the Sempron, meant to replace the Duron as its budget-level processor. Consider Anandtech's conclusion from a Sempron vs. Celeron test they did last July:

    "Sempron, at a glance, surpasses its goal to be a powerful budget processor. Cheaper than the current fastest Intel Celeron, both flavors of Sempron that we tested here outperform the competition in almost every test."

    In the performance market segment, Intel and AMD have been locked in battle for ages -- sometimes one is up, sometimes the other -- but if you're building a budget system, AMD offers more bang for less buck.

    I'll be interested to see how this unfortunately named "Turion" chip compares to the PentiumM.

    1. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by julesh · · Score: 1

      More recently, AMD released the Sempron, meant to replace the Duron as its budget-level processor. Consider Anandtech's conclusion from a Sempron vs. Celeron test they did last July:

      "Sempron, at a glance, surpasses its goal to be a powerful budget processor. Cheaper than the current fastest Intel Celeron, both flavors of Sempron that we tested here outperform the competition in almost every test."

      Maybe the prices they saw had the sempron cheaper, but at retail price I see just about no difference between a celeron 2.6 GHz and a sempron 2600+, which should be slightly slower. The Sempron 2800+ is substantially more expensive, and neither the Sempron 3100+ nor the Celeron 2.8GHz mentioned in the review is available yet.

      Perhaps the situation has changed in the last 5 months?

    2. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1
      celeron 2.6 GHz and a sempron 2600+, which should be slightly slower


      You apparently don't understand. Clock for numerical rating, Semprons are faster than Celerons.
      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    3. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by julesh · · Score: 1

      Not according to the benchmark I saw, which gave the sempron 2800+ a benchmark of 20.1, and the 2.66 GHz celeron 18.5. The 2600+ wasn't benchmarked, but we can estimate its performance at almost exactly the same, under the assumption that the numerical rating is proportional to benchmark speed (although note that this isn't true between the 3100 and the 2800).

      Of course, if you look at the different application domains, the figures vary wildly. The Sempron's better for some applications, the celeron for the other. The article author was right to say Sempron's were better value if the prices he had indicated they would be cheaper, but they aren't, at least not in any of my local shops. For chips at comparable performance levels, the prices are almost identical or higher, except at the very bottom of the range where Sempron is a clear winner.

    4. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1

      Go back through your "the benchmark I saw" paragraph, and see if it means anything.

      Let me repeat.

      Comparing Performance Rating to Clock Speed In Mhz, the Semperon outperforms the Celeron in the vast majority of tests.

      Reference: (You may need to remove a space in the URL)
      http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040728/se mpron- 08.html
      (That's the first page of results, *all* the results back my claim - note that the Celeron 335 is clocked at 1800mhz)

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    5. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by julesh · · Score: 1

      Different benchmark, different results. As I said, "Of course, if you look at the different application domains, the figures vary wildly. The Sempron's better for some applications, the celeron for the other."

      Obviously for the applications tested by the Toms Hardware benchmarks, the Sempron is better.

      Also, results for comparing a 1.8GHz celeron to an 1800 sempron may vary from 1.6 to 1600, as there are many factors other than clock speed that affect performance. As far as I'm concerned, there are benchmarks going both ways which means the difference is too close to call and not worth arguing over.

    6. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by MojoStan · · Score: 1
      AMD doesn't need to release a whole new line of processors just to compete with the Celeron -- they've had the Celeron beaten for years.

      Of course, the submitter's reference to the Celeron was a joke (Turion = Asparagus, Celeron = Celery). I mostly agree that AMD has kicked Intel's arse in budget CPUs in the past. But I don't think AMD currently beats Intel in every budget segment.

      Consider Anandtech's conclusion from a Sempron vs. Celeron test they did last July

      Also consider current pricing (from Newegg) for the Sempron and the Celeron D. In Anandtech's benchmark results, the Socket 754-based Sempron 3100+ did beat the Socket 478-based Celeron D 335 in most of the bechmarks that count. However, the Sempron 3100+ costs $123/$108 (retail/OEM) while the Celeron D 335 costs $109/$89. The benchmarks also showed that the Socket A-based Sempron 2800+ ($109/$99) was about even with the Celeron D 335, but would you choose an aging Socket A platform (PCI, AGP, IDE, 333MHz FSB) over a modern platform (PCI Express, SATA, 533/800MHz FSB) that you can get with the Celeron D?

      Of course, we're talking about building our own desktops, which is very different from what the big-name computer makers offer. Us home builders would choose nForce or 915 chipsets for Sempron and Celeron D CPUs. HP and Dell are more likely to offer VIA/SiS/ALi chipsets for Semprons and 865/845 chipsets for Celeron D. Ugh.

      If I was building a budget desktop, I would choose a Socket 775-based Celeron D over a Socket A or Socket 754-based Sempron. I value the whole platform just as much (if not more) than the CPU itself. If AMD made a Socket 939-based Sempron, I'd reconsider.

      I'll be interested to see how this unfortunately named "Turion" chip compares to the PentiumM.

      Back to the article's topic (notebook CPUs), it looks like AMD will not have an answer to Intel's Celeron M. The Celeron M is based on the Pentium M core and performs almost equivalently clock-for-clock in Tom's Hardware benchmarks. Also note that Intel's Sonoma platform (533MHz bus, PCI Express, DDR2, GMA900 graphics, HD Audio) is about to be lauched.

      --
      TO START
      PRESS ANY KEY

      Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...

    7. Re:AMD whupped Celeron long since by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1
      As far as I'm concerned, there are benchmarks going both ways which means the difference is too close to call and not worth arguing over.

      Reference?
      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
  30. A welcome addition to the AMD line by ZeeExSixAre · · Score: 1
    I convered to AMD a while back on my desktop, and I recently acquired a AMD AthlonXPM 2800+ notebook. This thing has relatively poor battery life at 1:30 and lowest screen brightness, even when doing mundane things such as typing a paper. My sister's Intel 1.6 Centrino proc on her IBM though has 3 hours on a full charge when doing mundane tasks.

    If AMD gets this right, AMD can sneak its way into the ultralights and ultrasmalls easily. And the way it's been looking for AMD on big-name desktops, volume is likely to go through the roof, especially if Dell finally catches onto the game and adopts AMD procs.

    1. Re:A welcome addition to the AMD line by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      Check your power settings. I have an Athlon64 Mobile 3000+ notebook and I'll get over 2.5 hours on a battery charge doing mundane things. Make sure you have the newest driver from AMD, too. I know there was a problem with the speed-stepping when I originally got my laptop.

      --
      My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
  31. Only aftter the failed Alderon line... by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    AMD's announcement comes following their failed "Alderon" line of chips, which after just a few months in production were all simultaneously destroyed by a giant moon-shaped pun laser.

    --
    stuff |
  32. no it won't by spectrokid · · Score: 1

    they would get an I/P lawsuit from the whitehouse...

    --

    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

  33. Yes, it's a goofy name, when can I buy one? by Brian+Stretch · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The new Turion 64's are intended for the new thin-and-light notebooks like these: regular and widescreen. The eMachines/Gateway AMD64 notebooks are built by Arima, so I'd expect these things to show up under the Gateway label.

    I'd prefer a nVidia chipset and GPU though for 64-bit Linux compatibility, like my current HP zv5000z has. It'll be interesting to see what HP has to offer in the way of Turion notebooks.

  34. Re:New Chip by b1t+r0t · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm waiting for an AMD Boron myself. Nothing fast and hot, just a nice underspecced chip that doesn't need a fan that sounds like a jet plane taking off. Just reliable and boring.

    --

    --
    "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
    "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
  35. Final result by kahei · · Score: 2, Funny


    Despite a poor showing initially, the lettuce DID win, taking advantage of a light breeze to flutter over the finish line! Some of the lettuce wound up off the track but I feel this is acceptable.

    I am sorry to say that the celery finished second equals with the other vegetables -- a poor showing for a plant touted as 'the fastest of all vegetables'.

    I would like to point out to other posters that the performance of the jumping bean and asparagus is not relevant -- the claim being tested is that celery is 'the fastest of all vegetables' and it is NO FASTER THAN AN ORDINARY COMMODITY ARTICHOKE.

    In the light of this test, I have decided not to put celery in my computer.

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
    1. Re:Final result by typhoonius · · Score: 1

      Slow day at work?

  36. But we're concerned about POWER for mobile use... by dpilot · · Score: 1

    So in your neck'n'neck vegetable race, did any of the vegetables consume less energy to go the given distance? No fair sticking pieces of copper and zinc into them, and this is a "vegetable" race, so you can't use lemons or other citrus fuits, either.

    OTOH, when they were in grade school, one of my kids' friends plugged line current into a pickle. (under adult supervision, of course) It made some pretty flickers of light inside, and rather smelled. But it didn't go any faster than your vegetables, even with all that power applied.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  37. Celerity is a computer! by 4of12 · · Score: 1

    Back in the 1980's I learned UNIX for the first time on a Celerity 1260D running BSD 4.2 that was running a Motorola 680x0 CPU.

    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
  38. Turion Official mascot! ^_^ by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 1

    http://venus.walagata.com/w/jeremetheus/turnip.jpg

    There ya go. Fastest vegetable on earth.

  39. Turdion by Perl-Pusher · · Score: 1

    The article says that the folks at AMD linked the word with 'tour', to me it's just as easy to associate it with 'turd'! So I would stick with dictionary meanings, because phonetic sounds can differ widely in meaning.

  40. So... by valjean78 · · Score: 1

    Does it make your pee smell too?

  41. The question is... by Entropius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... what sort of advantage do these chips have over the low voltage Athlon 64 mobiles? From what I understand, those have the power economy of the
    Centrinos but much better performance.

  42. Too many damn Metroids! by Psykechan · · Score: 1

    I would use a Turion processor but I don't like all of those damn Metroids. Why couldn't they call it a Brinstar or a Norfair?

  43. Re:Great word, but what a definition?! Get some sp by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

    I have to wonder about the marketing departments of both Intel and AMD. Neither has come up with anything really imaginative that didn't invite permanent derision since the Pentium name. I used to work for Toshiba's medical imaging division, and they put considerable time into coming up with names and testing them against focus groups. The last one that I remember was the Aquilion, which was taken from the scientific name of a seabird, IIRC. That's a good name because it has an elegant sound and isn't open to instant universal derision. Celeron, Duron, and Turion just don't make the grade.

    --
    You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  44. betting on the eggplant by Jodka · · Score: 1

    "..'celery' - the fastest of all vegetables."

    That reminds me something I read years a ago...

    "Everyone bet on the eggplant, figuring if a vegetable challenges a live animal with four legs to a race, it must be that the vegetable knows something."

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature.
  45. Let the potty humor begin by fabu10u$ · · Score: 1

    Tur* ... 'nuff said.

    --
    They say the mind is the first thing to ... uh, what's that saying again?
  46. Re:AMD 64 laptop brands by uid100 · · Score: 1

    I just bought a Gateway 7405GX
    bought the "floor display" for $1150

    -AMD Athlon 64 3200+
    -512MB PC2700 DDR RAM
    -Mobile ATI Radeon 9600 with 64MB of memory
    -80Gb Harddrive (unknown speed)
    -DVD Burner
    -15.4" WXGA TFT display
    -7.5 Pounds

    --
    ...yup...
  47. Decimate by Kobun · · Score: 1

    1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of
    2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from
    3 a: to reduce drastically especially in number
    3 b: to destroy a large part of

    Just for everyone who didn't know. :)
    http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Diction ary&va=decimate&x=0&y=0

  48. Definition of Turion: by thedbp · · Score: 1

    turion
    A young, scaly shoot budded off from underground stems.

    Now THAT sounds like it could crunch numbers like nothing ever seen before!

  49. Re:Great word... by arbitraryaardvark · · Score: 1

    Durision. Trademark pending. See also "Turion Machine" "This turion's for you" "There's a turion born every minute."

  50. Re:Celeryon by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

    Indeed, even my pre-Celeron D 2.8GHz Celeron with 512MB RAM runs perfectly smooth.