"Of course if a business needs something now then a P3/Athlon would be a better choice because in the standard 3-year cycle when you next decide to upgrade, all the enhanced programs will be firmly instated"
The standard business cycle is more like about 5 years. Optimized software will be appearing this year. You don't want to lock yourself into inferior performance with a purchase today. If you do that then yes, you may have to buy a new system early, perhaps about 2 years after your current purchase. Obsolescence is an extremely important factor in the purchase of a system. A P4 purchased today will certainly last longer than a P3 or Athlon. It will in fact get better as time goes on whereas the latter will only get worse.
-Raystonn
-- The center of your digital world --
The standard business cycle is more like about 5 years. Optimized software will be appearing this year. You don't want to lock yourself into inferior performance with a purchase today. If you do that then yes, you may have to buy a new system early, perhaps about 2 years after your current purchase. Obsolescence is an extremely important factor in the purchase of a system. A P4 purchased today will certainly last longer than a P3 or Athlon. It will in fact get better as time goes on whereas the latter will only get worse.
-Raystonn
-- The center of your digital world --