In my view most of the recent advances in processor speed are "nice to have" but not essential unless you're doing a lot of really high speed work like video editing or lots of high-graphic computer gaming. In most cases if you have a PC that works, it would be worthwhile spending money on increasing the memory to 256MB, 512MB or even 1GB, rather than throwing the box away and starting from scratch. I've also resisted the temptation to upgrade my Windows until recently. Not many months ago, I was still on Windows 98, but I have upgraded to XP now and I find it really stable and excellent. I especially like the way I can install new software without having to re-boot, and the System Restore can be very useful if things go wrong.
Having said all that, have you seen the TV ads for Dell Dimension at £349? It comes with a 15" LCD screen! Seems incredible value to me! There is something nice about getting a new PC with all the Operating system newly configured and everything set up ready to use!
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Am quite tempted to stick with the devil I know apart from the fact their support and customer services has got worse over the years but they have some tempting offers.
I work on my PC all day editing manuscripts/desktop publishing and need something like a 19" monitor and to be able to handle keeping open a few word processing windows at once. Word can be quite memory hungry at times as well (especially running numerous macros). My computer is quite 'sick' at the moment and the monitor is going so a new one is definitely on the cards. Have never really liked my present PC either.
My laptop runs on windows 95 and its great but I just use it for basic editing work and not the more complex stuff.