My question is naive for sure but I lack the tech background concerning the various processors and circuitry, so forgive me please.
Now that the specs of the N900 are public, at least in part, which machine will deliver more horsepower in non-gaming apps i.e. not involving accelerated graphics?
I mean, apart from other goodies like cam and hsdpa...

Um, they're absolutely no different. It's an OMAP3530 versus an OMAP3430 (still presumably). Same chip, except the OMAP3530 is missing a couple of interfaces and has slightly larger ball-pitch.