[Icemaster]

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.