it is impossible to chase technology.  as soon as you buy
something the next product is out. what i usually advise people
is not to try to buy the newest on the market.  buy the next
level down.  usually these components have been on the market for
a while and the bugs have been worked out.

now 450 mega hertz are at the top.  they are very expensive.
next down is the 300's they are an excellent value now and if you
get one on a 100 mega hertz main board you can always upgrade it
to a 450 or 500 later when these chips come down in price.
this type of board will also be ready when windows 2000  comes
out.

the truth of the matter is that a 166 mega hertz has so much
power that most users will never need it.
you probably are not using your computer to power the space
shuttle just to do word processing and to get on the net.  and
your experience on the net is determined by the speed of your
modem and the connection you get.  your bmw is not going to go
any faster than my old dodge mini van on the dirt road of the
internet.

your computer will always do what it can do today.  just make
sure you have copies of all your application software so it can
be restored.

i admit that i think it is pretty cool watching a high speed
computer go thru it's paces.  i am a hardware geek and i like it.
the realty is that business applications do not need this.  i am
building a computer for an accountant.  her new version of turbo
tax will only run under windows 95.  up till now her office has
been using windows 3.1.  just now she is changing up to win 95.
basic business applications are not written for cutting edge
computers they are written for average machines.


i would say now to be safe get a machine which is built on a 100
mega hertz main board.  with this foundation faster cpu's can be
installed.  massive amounts of memory can be added and bigger
hard drives can always be installed.


peter


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