Computer advice--Pentium or Celeron?

[johnsemlak]

I will be shopping for a new computer hopefully soon.

I'm wondering, how much is having a Pentium versus a celeron or other cheaper processer worth? Please give a complete non-tech dummie some advice

 

[Tsyr]

I don't know about new celerons, but I had a celeron-500 laptop one time... I payed a pretty hefty restock fee, not to mention the price of the upgrade to a regular pentium model, to get rid of it. It was horrid.

On the other hand, modern Athalons are getting to be pretty nice. I wouldn't mind going with one of those if I didn't want to pay the Pentium price... In fact, I'm currently thinking of it for my new computer.

 

[shadowlight]

If you're even considering playing games on this machine, don't get a Celeron.

 

[Maraxle]

Celerons are fine for regular tasks - web browsing, word processing, listening to MP3s, etc. Processor intensive tasks, such as games and video editing are much better on a Pentium due to the increased cache size.

EDIT: As for Athlons, they are fairly comparable to the Pentium, but they run really hot. If you don't have a case with plenty of air circulation, fans, etc, they can get too warm and slow down or in extreme circumstances crash.

 

[shadowlight]

...
EDIT: As for Athlons, they are fairly comparable to the Pentium, but they run really hot. If you don't have a case with plenty of air circulation, fans, etc, they can get too warm and slow down or in extreme circumstances crash.

hmm... I've had a couple of computers with Athlons (and cases with fairly crappy cooling) and never had a problem.

 

[johnsemlak]

Mmm, thanks for the advice guys.

I am probably going to be playing CGs, but not many. Still, it's probably worth spending a little extra to make sure they work OK when you play 'em.

I'll have a look at the Athlons and see how much cheapter they are.

 

[shadowlight]

You may want to take a look at this article for some recommendations:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13042

 

[Psionicist]

I will be shopping for a new computer hopefully soon.

I'm wondering, how much is having a Pentium versus a celeron or other cheaper processer worth? Please give a complete non-tech dummie some advice

A Ferrari or Yugo. It's up to you.

 

[drothgery]

Just to give a little bit of information here...
The Pentium 4-based Celerons really, really suck (they don't have enough cache for the Pentium 4 design to work well). A 1.8A GHz Pentium 4 will consistently outperform a 2.6 GHz Celeron. It's likely that next year's Prescott-based Celerons and Pentium-M based mobile Celerons will be much better budget CPUs (relative to their Pentium 4 and Pentium M brethren), but the current iteration of the Celeron should be avoided.

 

[berova]

Just to give a little bit of information here...
The Pentium 4-based Celerons really, really suck (they don't have enough cache for the Pentium 4 design to work well). A 1.8A GHz Pentium 4 will consistently outperform a 2.6 GHz Celeron. It's likely that next year's Prescott-based Celerons and Pentium-M based mobile Celerons will be much better budget CPUs (relative to their Pentium 4 and Pentium M brethren), but the current iteration of the Celeron should be avoided.

Doh! I just (after T-day) had my wife pick up a 2.8 GHz Celeron from Best Buy. Couldn't pass it up (80GB HD & CD burner) for $200 (after rebates). But then considering I was upgrading from my 266 MHz Pentium-MMX notebook (my wife gets her Gateway 650 MHz Athlon back), anything would be considered an improvement.