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Edited by: Andrew Brandt and Alan StaffordPhotographs: Ken Smith
Power seekers rejoice. Our new Top 10 Power PCs class emphasizes performance more than ever, though the systems in this category are also pricier than ever. For example, Micron's new Millennia 550 costs $2799, but this Millennia sped to an impressive score of 248 on our PC WorldBench 98 tests, making it one of the fastest Pentium III PCs running Windows 98 we've tested. The reigning performance champion, Dell's Dimension XPS T550, costs $2475 and scored a blistering 309 on PC WorldBench 98.
Tech Trends: Processor Churn Creates Bargains
The life span of a processor--the length of time from the chip's introduction until it becomes completely obsolete--used to be about three years, says George Alfs, a spokesperson for Intel. "Now it's getting close to two years and sometimes [it's] less," he says.
Some large companies--especially those that standardize on a single processor for all the PCs used in their business--can get caught in the vortex of what analysts call processor churn: the ever- accelerating spiral into CPU obsolescence, created by chip innovations.
But these whirlpools that drag CPUs into oblivion also create attractive eddies of price reductions. Consumers can then save a bundle by buying a system with a slightly outdated processor. Budget PCs, like EMachines' 400i, help extend longevity as manufacturers incorporate low-end Pentium IIs and members of the Celeron family into their low-cost lines. But even the higher-end PII's days are numbered as more systems use Pentium IIIs.
First introduced in the spring of 1997, the Pentium II remained at the top for almost two years. But by the end of this year, most manufacturers will ship their flagship systems with Pentium III processors. "Vendors that move on to new technology [quickly] have pretty much already adopted the Pentium III," Alfs says. Our power PCs chart reflects this migration trend.
Still, Alfs predicts that we'll be well into 2000 before PIIs become as hard to find as first-generation Pentiums are today. In the meantime, consumers can surf the waves of price reductions to get great deals. If sales of PIIs are strong, PC makers will continue to buy the cheaper chips. And notebook CPUs always lag a few speed- steps behind desktop processors,...