Going to get a new notebook for use while traveling. Only need to run MS Office appz and the occasional viewing of CAD files (using eViewer). Will also be surfing net and e-mailing but not much else.

I am an avid AMD user and have narrowed my hoices to 2 low cost budget Acer units:

Acer Aspire AS3003WLCi NoteBook
Mobile Sempron AMD3000+
15.4" Wide XGA
256MB 40GB 4200rpm HDD, DVD/CD-RW Combo
SiS Mirage 2
$630

or

Acer Aspire AS5002LMi-XPPro NoteBook
Turion 64 AMD ML-30(1.6GHz)
15.0" XGA
512MB DDR333 80GB 4200rpm HDD, DVD±R/RW
SiS Mirage 2
$830

I have been thinking of getting the lower cost Sempron unit and changing the HDD to an 80GB 5400rpm 8mb cache unit and upgrading the RAM to 1GB. It has Win XP home on it so i would change to XP Pro as well. By the time I finish the upgrades, I will be over the cost of the Turion rig, but I think the performance would be better.

Is it worth the extra cash to get the Turion? I won't have any budget left to upgrade it if I pop for the Turion.

What would you do? Opinions please!

Thanks!