you can get $50 CPU that is quite cool, hook it up to a $50 GPU and you should be running w7 really nicely.

I think GPU market is changing -it used to be only gamers and proffesionals but is now also in HTPC, and people want something like w7 to look nice so they are open to the argument of dedicated graphics. A change in how people budget their computers.

I also notice that prices are stalling, ram especially is really expensive now. But then. RAM has always been expensive.

@BB re Needed level of performance.

Unfortunately for Intel, their days of scamming the consumer, in collusion with Microsoft(no $ sign in the name - see how easy that was) are over.

Gone are the days when MS could release increasingly complex(bloated) operating systems and Intel could respond with yet faster processors(and other related technologies), to give consumers the illusion of progress.

To much competition these days.

With the release of Vista, MS broke the cycle. Sure it was bloated and needlessly complex(as planned) but it didn't offer anything new so users revolted and demanded a more streamlined version of the "same old crap" from MS.

And so it came to pass that the great MS/Intel debacle of the late 20th and early 21st century was consigned to the pages of history.

I have to question what level of performance people really need to have for their computers. As far as I'm concerned, performance plateaued when the Core 2 Duo came out, and ever since it's just been more cores, and only somewhat better performance from other processor designs. Yeah, 20% better, or whatever from these mid-range/higher-end processes, but that's 20% on already great performing processors.

I can't even think of applications that would really stress any of the low-end processors these days, short of what a gamer or professional might demand. An even better upgrade would be to just get an SSD for much better drive performance.

Prices may be going up, but I'm not rich, so I'm looking for value for the dollar when I replace my POS Acer laptop this summer. It will be a Netbook. Someone else will have to make PC manufacturer's rich. It won't be me. Maybe the bankers and stock brokers can buy high and pay more. It won't be me.

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If you want to save some cash without sacrificing much performance, consider getting an i5-750 instead of an i7. You'll still get a Turbo'd quad-core, but you'll sacrifice hyperthreading. Once you look at the price, though, you'll see the i5-750 has a lot more bang for the buck. I look at most of the i7 line as today's "extreme edition": extreme increase in price with only marginal increase in performance.

I've been watching the prices of components for the last 5 months. And can confirm the prices have stalled. Because of this i have to buy and AMD system as i will save nearly 500 bucks. I wanted to go with a CoreI7 but just can't. Price Performace just goes to AMD by a long shot.