well then your friends lied to you....... please only post if you have experience when it comes to technical questions, this is the only way to get accurate information rather than someone spreading what they here from someone else.

To answer the question, what kind of power are you looking for? either way turbocharging the NA motor is going to yield you motr power for the $ compared to swapping. Many, and I repeat.. MANY people including myself and kbprice have successfully turbocharged the GE motor, I myself also run a website which is dedicated to turbocharging the NA motors (http://www.clubna-t.com) feel free to visit there for any technical advice. I dynoed more than a BPU 2JZ-GTE on a setup which cost ALOT cheaper than swapping out the motors.... this is while my car was only @ 10psi and the BPU twin turbo supras were boosting 18+ psi.... you do the math

and yes the internals are the same, yes the heads are the same with the exception of different bolt patterns for the intake/exhaust manifolds... but there is just as big of an aftermarket for the GTE than there is with the GE when it comes to the intake/exhaust manifolds.