Nowadays it's a TWO horse race when it comes to processors.
Two Big names, INTEL and AMD
So as not to confuse the issues lets just talk about the newer products.
In the Intel camp we have the Pentium P4 and the Celeron
The P4 is Intels flag ship processor and the Celeron is the Budget model.
Same goes for AMD, there Top processor is called the Palemino XP and the budget chip is the Duron.
Forgive me for generalizing but at any given clock speed, example: Palemino XP1.5+ versas Pentium P4 1.5 the AMD processors are quicker at completing a given task and are cheaper to buy.
The same goes for the AMD Duron and Intel Celeron, the Duron is quicker and cheaper.
Notice: I compare the budget offerings from both companies together and the Top products together.
It is also true that now the AMD platform (board and chipset support) are proven to be both stable and high performers alot of die hard Intel uses of the past are jumping ship and getting aboard the AMD Boat.
So as far as I am concerned if you are going for a high performance system and want to watch the Dollars then the Palemino processor is the one to go for. On the other hand if yours is a budget buy then the AMD Duron is top dog.
Having said all of this I still maintain is is better to save a few bucks by not going for the fastest processor, and buying better periferals like graphics cards, sound cards and imput devices giving you a rounder package instead of outright speed. Martin