Computer knowledge needed...
 

I'm getting ready to purchase a new home computer for the wife and I. Our old one is 5.5 years old, and I'm just waiting for it to go kaboom. Anyways, my question is what's the difference between a Pentium 4 processor and a Celleron processor? If they have the save specs, is it worth it to spend the extra money for the pentium 4? Or should I get the Celleron and bag the cash for Porsche parts?

Thanks!

i think it depends on what you plan to use the computer for. the celeron is sorta a generic pentium. it basically does not have the cache resources (computer short term memory) to run as fast as a pentium 4 processor. i have a celeron machine, that i just use for email, my budget, and letters and stuff. i dont do games and stuff. i am positive someone completely computer saavy will give you better advice. i like getting porsche parts!

Get a Mac.

as unfixed said, it depends on what you want to do. If you want to rue the day, get the celeron or p4. If you want to get something done, get a Mac. Tomorrow we'll see what new goodies Steve has in store for us.

Actually, if you want to stay windoze, it all comes down to how much horsepower you need. Most people have way more clock speed than they need, although software developers have this habit of bloating their programs to run slow no matter what. If you want to do video editing and what not, go fast with boatloads of ram.

Oddly the Centrino packages are about as fast as P4s rated at 500-700 MHz higher.

They're laptop only, though.

I've been very happy with AMD chips. They're a lot cheaper than Intel for similar performance, and I have never run into any compatibility problems with software.

If you don't know much about computers and want to buy a good one, buy one from Dell. You could get a good home unit for $500 - $600, and you'd have good support.

Happily chugging along on dual 1.2ghz athlon chips, smokes any P4 you got. My old dual 450 system was just as fast "feeling" 2.4ghz system at work.

Anyway, no need ot buy a new computer necessarily - if you aren't doing high end games or video editing, you can probably get by wiht a RAM upgrade and a good reformat/reinstall of windows and applications. Yes, a clean install of Windows is MUCH faster than one that has been used for a few months.

Oh, and don't get a Mac. If you want to limit your software choices, etc. then just use a PC with Linux (I do). At least you won't pay a massive premium for the hardware.

Do NOT buy a Dell...if you have any sort of problem (not unlikely) you will be in customer service HELL.

It took Dell over 50 days to refund my money ($2700) on a returned laptop. And that was dealing with their "employee purchase program escalations specialist". Lousy f*ckers.

As for "overpriced software" on the Mac, I installed OpenOffice.org and have decent MS Office compatability, and installed the GIMP and have a decent PhotoShop replacement (for my admittedly amateur photo work). Both applications are available FREE (as in both "gratis" and "libre"). Every device I have plugged in via USB or FireWire worked with little or no fiddling. Safari is a decent web browser, and there are plenty of games for mind-numbing. iTunes handles my MP3 library fantastically, and the DVD player works great. What more do you need to do???

i think the P4 runs cooler so will last a bit longer (?). but that is a moot point because it would be outdated before it burned out...what!!? never mind i think it just got outdated.

Like others have said, it depends on what you are doing. If you are only doing the basics (email, word, excel, browsing the web), then a Celeron will be more than enough for you. However, if you are a hard core gamer, manipulate videos, or do lots of digital photography then get the beefiest machine you can afford.

Oh, also forgot to say that you should seriously check into AMD systems. They are just as fast and much cheaper.

I just bought a Dell for my wife. It's great. For the most part my experience has been positive with their desktop products.

As I recall the P4 package that Dell offers affords you a better motherboard (model specific) with an 800Mhz Front Bus speed, and larger memory capability. Also, the processor on-board cache as mentioned earlier.

I also agree that it depends on what you're using the macchine for as you can go with a server type machine or a standard desktop. Each with there strong/weak points.

Bottom line is that the little extra that it costs the P4 is worthwhile.

BTW, I purchased the machine from Great place to catch discounts.

Can't really answer the question unless you give us an idea of what tasks you rely on your computer to perform? What kind of apps do you run?

If you're an average user (word processor, finances, email, web browsing, some music and pictures) then the cheaper Celeron/AMD chip based systems are perfect. Hell, for $350 you could easily build a nice system (not including monitor) or for $500 buy something from Dell or Gateway with support. Actually I recommend you seek out a local computer shop that sell prebuilt machines - usually they offer better hardware and only install the software you need.

All is not well in the MAC world Unhappy MAC users. Probably a small group but just shows that MAC is not the perfect bug free environment its always touted to be either. Still, MAC users are pretty fanatical :) - and their OS-X operating system is sweet. I just can't swallow the cost of their hardware.

Good luck.

RickM, glad you're happy with your Dell. Regarding the SlickDeals item, a $350 that may turn out to be a POS is something I can easily live with. A $2700 POS is not.

I bought my first and last Dell years ago. It had the usual problems but the customer service was terrible. Gateway has had great customer service and trade-in programs as well.
If your not hard-core gaming or editing video, a $500 system(AMD rocks) should be plenty. More money for peripherals, a camera or car-parts.

No trouble at all with Dells, for many years - but NOT the home/Dimension line. Get the business line (Optiplex series of desktops, or Lattitude laptop) and get the 3 year next day on site warranty. You have to buy as a small/home businesss.

Blue,

The Dell I just purchased was $350, shipped...lol (with rebate from Slickdeals/Dell)

It's the Poweredge (server) box with the P4. The hard drive is small at 40gigs but I'm adding an external 250gig unit anyway. Memory also minimal at 128M but for $230 I'll jack it up with two 512M ECC PC3200 sticks. Bought a nice HP LCD, an external 8x DVD/CD burner (assembled by me, not an off the shelf external) and I have a great machine in the 700-800 range. It doesn't come with an OS which wasn't a problem for me but may be a consideration for others.

Oh, and the 9 USB 2.0 ports don't hurt either.

Is your head spinning yet???

To answer your question directly - the biggest difference is the L2 cache on the processor chip (think of it as the staging area for the work the processor is about to do...). The necessity of which (as was said before...) depends on what you use the PC for. Intel created the Celeron as a home based entry level chip geared more at the non-power user running just a few apps (email, browser, word processor etc...) at a lower price point.

I'd never even consider one though, even if all I was doing was checking email, the pricing is insignificant in IMHO.

You can do just as good looking at AMD, Mac's, and Intels based equipment, and as you can see the opinions are as varied as are the vendors. There really is no more proprietary hardware anymore, all teh big boys really do is assemble various components into a machine and sell it under their name brand. As long as you stick with a good manufacturer like Compaq, Dell (sorry Blue...) or Mac, your in good shape. It all comes down to customer service and who will support it.

I second ID10T's argument, get the Optiplex or Latitude stuff if you go Dell, or the EVO line if you look at Compaq.

Quote:
"There really is no more proprietary hardware anymore" ......
"stick with a good manufacturer like Compaq, Dell (sorry Blue...) or Mac"

I'd consider MAC "proprietary" or at least limited (moreso than the others) when it comes to hardware and software options. (Although USB opens things up quite a bit)

....ducking for cover....

The "mac is limited" argument just doesn't hold water. Especially with OSX. Name me a *task* that cannot be done on a Mac. I don't care about the sheer number of titles...most of that software is crap anyway. What is important is what you can accomplish, and how difficult it is to do it. This imho is where Macs excel (spreadsheet pun intended).

My SBO just commented about how he never could get his mp3 player to work, and it sits in a drawer. I don't hear anyone saying that about their iPod. And it does windoze too.

No OS or hardware is perfect...but there are real differences. If having 100K different versions of a game or sticky note app is important to you, then by all means, go windoze. If you need to spend the least amount of money possible, then linux or windoze and cheap hardware is the way to go. But if your time is valuable, I think the Mac evens things out.

And I had an interesting conversation with the head of Sony digital music today. You know, they make computers that run windoze...good ones too. What do all of his creative departments use? Macs. Hmmm...

Yes! Since I'm not a real big computer user I think I'll stick with a Windows based machine. I should have included what I'm going to use it for so here goes:

70% Surfing the Pelican BBS

5% purchasing from Pelican

10% Digital pictures

5% E-mail

5% Misc. surfing

5% Other Misc. Digital videos, Excel, etc...

I'm pretty sure I'm going with Dell. For about $500 I can get the machine I want with printer, scanner, copier, & monitor.

It sounds like the celleron will be fine for what I need.

Thanks guysSmileWavy .

Sam's clubs & Costco have decent deals on eMachines, Compaq, and HP. The nice thing about buying from a wholesale club is/was their 'blanket refund policy' My Sony Laptop, bought from Costco, broke after 5 months, Costco took it back no questions asked, and I bought a repacement new for less. Just bought a Compaq Athalon 2.6 with dvd, CD-rw, and a LCD flat screen for $700.

I agree with the terrible support from Dell. I have also had trouble installing non-Dell printers and palm organizers.

If you think Dell support is bad try dealing with E-Machines. (Not recommended)

Matt, a big difference will be realized with a high speed internet connection. Perhaps cable as they're typically the fastest for the money. Also, if you plan on doing any Video editing I'd still suggest biting the bullet for the P4. It's not just the processor that's beefed up. Well worth the money.

......what Rick said.

If your thinking of doing any kind of video work and you want to stay Windows instead of Mac, go for the P4 . Trust me.

Should have mentioned I have a DSL connection currently. Alright, I guess I plop down the extra green for the P4.

I would disagree that if you have broadband (DSL) that you need a quicker machine. Any old 2 year old machine will browse the internet on a broadband connection just as fast as the fastest machine out today. The data rates for broadband aren't even close to what a modern processor can handle.

If you are going to spend a bit extra money, spend it on more RAM. Make sure you have at least 512MB.

Those are really undemanding tasks.

So don't get lured into buying a "hot fast" machine, a Celeron or a AMD with 512MB RAM will do everything you need. And today's "hot fast" machine will be old bargain-bin stuff in a year, so there's no point in buying more PC than you need.

Do make sure you get Office bundled, if you don't already have a copy (since you mentioned Excel). I guess that's fairly obvious, sorry.

Before you choose a printer, go to the library and find a Consumer Reports test of inkjet printers. Check out the $/page cost. Lexmark printers have appealingly low upfront costs but surprisingly high $/page ink costs. DELL-branded printers are (currently) made by Lexmark.

Oh, I see you mentioned digital video too but you say that's only 5%. That's a demanding task, but are you serious about it? If yes you'll want a P4 with lots of RAM, lots of hard disk, and good graphics and sound cards - it's getting to be more of a high-end machine.

I'm a big Mac fan too, although you won't be able to get into one for $500. I used to be a 100% PC bigot - built all my own PCs on dual-processor server boards using all the RAM and the fastest SCSI drives I could afford etc. Then I got sick of constantly fixing and patching Windows, downloading new virus definitions, running Norton Utilities, rebooting, etc. So I started using my wife's Mac more and more. The last time my PC crashed I didn't bother fixing it, and now we're shopping for a second Mac. The things are just so damn easy to use.

As for Mac software, with a $129 student edition of Office X (they'll sell it to anyone) and the built-in Apple digital photo / music / video apps, webbrowser, and email client, you're all set. The only major consumer usage where Macs are disadvantaged, software-wise, is PC gaming.

Finally, remember to back up your data since PCs do crash and take your irreplaceable photos with them. I use an external hard drive (Maxtor makes some nice "One-Touch" products) but I guess you could just use a stack of 5 cent recordable CDs or DVDs.

Quote: "I would disagree that if you have broadband (DSL) that you need a quicker machine."

DG you may misunderstand the above mentioned comments. I agree that a slower machine will benefit from a faster internet connection. But a faster machine (P4) would be absolutely favorable for any kind of video editing....especially since it's only a few $$$ more. I also agree with bumping memory. But that can be done after the machine is purchased and most likely for alot cheaper than from the PC builder.

Start with a good base machine and take it from there. You can expand/upgrade the subsystems of the PC as you focus your use.