.."You can get 7 durons to one P-IV running at 1.5GHz."
You should not compare only cpu price but whole system price, You can get only 2-3 Duron systems for the price of P4 system. That means you can buy Duron now, put the rest of the money under the pillow for a year, than upgrade the cpu to 2333 MHZ , and keep the change for year after. That way you will have fast system for long time. If you buy a P4 you will have to thrash it in a year or two together with m/b,case,power suplay and your crushed dreams (see pentium 60).