NEC PowerMate VT PIII 450 - PIII 450 MHz

Advantages: design construction ease of use
Disadvantages: lack of velocity engine software, slow surfing

....4Ghz! However most software is currently not optimised for velocity engine (seems to be only Photoshop and a handful of others) so in speed terms a 400Mhz G4 is only equalvalent to a PIII 500Mhz running standard software, a PIII computer can be had for around half the price of a G4 computer, PC's come with software, scanner, printer, amplified speakers etc (you've seen those PC deals) and makes a Mac look incredibly poor value for money for the performance. Contary to popular belief that Macs are fast, PC's are now on zippier 133Mhz RAM, faster motherboards - AMD's use 200Mhz boards and the new Pentium 4 uses an incredibly fast 400 Mhz board, the G4 is still stuck with a 100Mhz board (newer G4's use a 133 Mhz board). While Macs use ATA66 hard disks, PC's utlise the faster ATA100 standard. The G4 has 2X AGP, PC's have 4X AGP. Also PC... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Reliable
Disadvantages: Cost? ( see opinion )

...I've had "PC Compatible" computers since 1993, starting with an Intel 25mhz processor before switching to AMD processors - which was mainly down to cost - going up to an AMD K5 200mhz. I switched back to Intel in 1998 with a Celeron 300mhz which I immediately overclocked to 450mhz, and which is still running today at 465mhz without a hitch. I now have an Intel PIII 600mhz which I run at 800mhz for daily use, and which can run at 850mhz without any problems, even when playing processor intensive games. I called this opinion "More for your money" because of the only recently publicised practice of overclocking, which if you consider the cost differential between the processor you buy and the equivelant cost of the one you would need to attain the "overclocked" speed, is quite significant. I therefore think that in my case the overpriced... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Fast and Loose
Disadvantages: Value for money - it is but nobody understands what value really is

...That's not a coital relationship with the office manager(ess). But the fastest desktop computer on the planet. Risc processing on a (now unix based) platform. With more scope for speed development than intel could shake a stick at. Why is the Mac Fanatic writing another spurious exoltation. Because the reality of my desktop is virtual PC which launches as part of my start-up items and still beats my colleagues PIII 450. Why by - because you get two for the price of one (at a small additional £149.00) Multi-platform - Unix, Windows and Mac OS Looks pretty too! I'd be here all day!... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful