Technical help #1: CPU

Intel chips have always been dominate in computers. AMD chips hit the scene about 10 years ago as a cheaper alternative. Now they are the dominate force. Still though CPU chips are always measured up to Intel chips. The CPU or Central Processing Unit is the brain of your computer. It's the big chip that does all the calculations to make programs works and to have dots appear on your screen to actually form things like letters and pictures. Think of it like your brain, that's what it is to a computer. The evolution of the Intel Chips went like this (from the top of my head) Pentium or P1 Pentium II or P2 Pentium III or P3 Pentium IV or P4 Pentium D or Dual Core Pentium (2 processors in one) Pentium Core-2 Duo (Like the above but Multi-threading) Note: Pentium Celeron are overlocked Pentium Chips, they are the low end Intel chips. To be honest, I am not a fan of AMD chips. Many swear by them, and they are cheaper. However I have had nothing but problems with them both in computers I built using them, and ones I have supported with them. They may operate faster as many claim, but they are also prone to failure and incompatibility from my experience. I would suggest Intel Chips, and would go with a Pentium Core-2 chip if I were buying one today. Get a middle of the road clock speed. The clock speed does increase overall computer speed and processing power, but at some point it becomes not worth extra hundreds of dollars to get a little faster. Hope that helps, if you have any questions... :)

Missak, I can't help you but I just took a couple Aleve after reading this post! I had to have my cable service come out to look at my internet last week and the poor young man told me something had gone wrong with my ethernet card. I asked him to repeat what he had said since I am having a bit of a hard time hearing. He repeated it and it just sounded silly. Then I thought, "oh, my goodness, this dear man has a speech impediment and I keep asking him to say this word over and over!" I finally asked him to spell it for me so I could write it down and ask at the store. Silly Me! There is such a thing as an Ethernet Card ~Donna (and I am fairly certain that the motherboard is on the starship gallactica)

Abbreviation of central processing unit, and pronounced as separate letters. The CPU is the brains of the computer. Sometimes referred to simply as the processor or central processor, the CPU is where most calculations take place. In terms of computing power, the CPU is the most important element of a computer system. On large machines, CPUs require one or more printed circuit boards. On personal computers and small workstations, the CPU is housed in a single chip called a microprocessor. Two typical components of a CPU are: * The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), which performs arithmetic and logical operations. * The control unit (CU), which extracts instructions from memory and decodes and executes them, calling on the ALU when necessary