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I think when most people use the term "efficient" they're talking about the flow rate per wheel size. That's the advantage of new technology. These smaller turbos are outflowing old-school turbos of quite a bit larger size, both on the compressor and turbine side of things. You can't argue that the inertial advantage of a smaller rotor group isn't significant when it comes to response time.
I'd agree that the bigger EFRs are the most impressive turbos I've experienced. The first time I drove a car with an 8374 on it, I thought it was a bolt-on upgrade turbo it was so responsive.
This is definitely an interesting discussion to me. I don't know if you can really factor in budget though. There are plenty of great budget turbos out there, but a reliable turbo system pretty much ends up costing the same price regardless of the combination. If you go T3 you need a good top mount manifold, if you do twin-scroll the same, hard use bottom mount setups need special studs and the stock manifold will probably crack eventually, etc, etc. Seems kind of a moot point.
I think it really just comes down to what the car is for and what kind of torque curve you want. I like a really snappy turbo for street cars, it's much more fun to have that kick in the ass torque whenever you need it IMO. This only really happens with small turbos or a medium turbo with a divided exhaust housing.
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