Intel, PC Makers Sued Over Pentium 4 Performance

PCWorld.com ^ | Friday, August 16, 2002 | Tom Mainelli

[Bonaparte]

Wish I could help you out on that one, Hal, but I got the same result when I pushed the button on my Dell PC. I just can't figure out how that could happen.

[A CA Guy]

I am playing with a new 2.4 g P4.
524 meg, DVD writable, DSL, 19" GEM flat screen monitor.
Wireless keyboard and mouse.

But what worries me most?
Nothing worries me, it's just a stupid computer.

[LenS]

ROFL!

[monkeyshine]

I don't like paying the $600+ premium just so they can put it together. Esp since I need several of them.

[HAL9000]

...I got the same result when I pushed the button on my Dell PC.

Yes, but tragically, after you pushed the button, it booted up Windows.

A great mind like yours deserves something better.

[rdb3]

The Penguin Ping. Want on or off? Just holla!

Got root?

[KneelBeforeZod]

hmm. I'm sure all the folks squabbling on here already know that Intel dumbs down some of their chips and puts them out as celerons...

[wattsmag2]

For example, in a recent test of each company's top CPUs, a system with Intel's 2.53-GHz P4 edged past a PC with an Athlon XP 2100+ chip (running at 1.73 GHz) in PC WorldBench 4.

For that marginal difference:

Athlon XP 2100 costs $118.00

Intel P4 2.53 costs $399.00

Not a hard choice.

[dread78645]

Please ad me to your Penguin Ping list.

[Bonaparte]

"I don't like paying the $600+ premium just so they can put it together."

Are we talking about the same Dell, monkeyshine? I used to save a lot of money by shopping components and doing the assembly, but there is now no way I can beat out Dell's price on a system.

[wattsmag2]

Have you looked here? http://www.pricewatch.com/

[agitator]

I thought they called 'em SX's ;-)

[Cacique]

AMD afficionado bump

[Bonaparte]

"A great mind like yours deserves something better."

Flattery will get you everywhere, Hal. I guess owning a PC is the closest I will ever come to having Frankenstein as a house guest.

[Bonaparte]

"Have you looked here?"

Sure did. I looked in quite a few places and Dell offered me the best way to go for what I wanted. Never thought I'd see the day.

[MedicalMess]

While I love my Athlon 1400MHz 100MHz FSB machines, a Pentium 4 can waste them in video compilation due to more efficient memory processing. It depends on what you use your machine for. My machines at 1400MHz bench equivalent to a 1650 MHz Pentium 4 but they are slow when compiling MPEG2 from DV AVI files or DivX from AVI or MPEG2 formats because of the memory bottleneck. This lawsuit will fail!

[wattsmag2]

Many of my corporate customers are going with Dells. I find them far easier to work on than IBMs. Love those two button opening cases.

[Bonaparte]

Yes, the case is splendid. And so is everything in it -- the fan, hood, and heat sink are especially impressive, as is the whisper-quiet operation.

[Bonaparte]

"It depends on what you use your machine for."

Can I light that cigar for you, sir? :-)

Personally, I've never owned anything but PCs. But when my then-80-y.o. daddy wanted me to recommend a computer for him, I told him to get an iMac. In good conscience, there was nothing else I could do.

[stainlessbanner]

That was my first thought when I read the headline - I thought intel was in trouble for slowing down the clock speeds. Sounds like it's system performance, which has many variables.

They will just blame other HW vendors (memory, motherboard, etc.) and skirt the lawsuit.