Duel-Core, Tri-Core, Quad-Core........

I think its a little extremet to think that any laptop bought today will be paper weight in a year. Yes dual cores are coming out, and 64 bit cpus, but u gotta realize that new tech takes a while to be adapted.

Most pple dont buy bleeding edge computers every year (much less laptops which are more expensive). The pple that do that are the 1% of enthusiasts on sites like this, or hardforum.com But waht about the 99% of consumers that dont need top of the line stuff. Think about how many pple still use win2k and a p3 processors. And for most software that is more than enough.

Like I said, an old computer works just fine with most software, the only case being games. So for the regular users out tehre, dual cores and 3ghz is not really a concern for them.

Duel-core?



ON GUARD!

Speaking strictly about desktops:
IMHO, you are not wrong. today's slowest computing speeds are more than enough to handle the basic user's needs (email, word, powerpoing, DVDs, etc). @ this point, the vast majority of users do not need uber fast (dual core, hyperthreading, 10000MB of Cache on die...) processors to surf the web. Providing that you are proactive in keeping the system free of viruses, spyware, and other malware that will slow down your computer, a 3 year old system can run almost as good as a brand new one (again. for basic users)

If you are out to buy a computer right now, buy just what you need, and go up one level, just in case you discover...maybe you really do want to do some
photoshop, or edit a movie.

For a basic user, if you follow this, I think that you can get a very good system, that can potentially last you 5-6+ years, at a very good price (sub $600 (canadian), w/o monitor). I myself can still get by on an old celeron 800Mhz. It's been upgraded a few times, (more HD space, and ram) but there's very few problems with it, and I keep it clean (no spyware, virus's etc).

now, notebooks are a little different IMO. the latest advances in notebook CPUs, and other parts, have greatly increased our power, usability, portability and battery life of our laptops. for instance. I predict that in the next couple years or so, we'll soon see super light powerful laptops, with 7+ hours of battery life. Batteries are getting smaller and lasting longer, screens are getting thinner and more efficent (LED back lit), and there is an increasing movement for components to be more and more power efficent and quieter. Already, sony can produce a super thin and light (the TX) that has 7+ batterylife. Granted it's very expensive, and out of most people's price range, but so were LCD monitors a couple years ago, now how many of us use CRTs anymore. what i'm trying to say, is that for a notebook, it's not a bad idea to invest some extra cash, and get something close to the latest technologies. Because having the latest technologies, will most likely give you the greatest value. but keep in mind, that the technologies within a laptop, that add the most value to a consumer, are also changing much quicker... (i just contradicted myself didn't I...)

also one thing about notebooks is their durability. They just don't last as long as a desktop. It's small. it's got little moving parts in it, and it can generate heat like a bitch. it's also got a battery that'll eventually die, and probably one day you can't find a replacement for it (for an appropriate sum $).

anyway, starting to lose my point (if i haven't lost it already)...and i didn't intend to ramble on and on... . basically, I agree with you, Ed1955, you can buy a system that's a year old, and still have it do everything you want it to do, for a very low price, providing you don't want to play the latest games, or do a crap load of advanced mulimedia stuff.

S_NINJA.

LOL