Intel’s Stack of Chips: II Doesn’t Always Beat I

No doubt you’ve seen the new Intel commercials for the Pentium II processor. They’re the ones with the people in silly multicolored space suits driving around in an even sillier multicolored van, demonstrating the Pentium II processor to the world. It’s kind of like the Partridge Family meets Devo. Why all the fuss?

In the good old days, it was easy to tell one computer chip from another. There was the 286, the 386 and the 486. The higher the number, the faster the chip--not too hard to figure out.

After growing tired of expensive trademark disputes, Intel called what would have been the 586 a Pentium and seems stuck on it. Then came the Pentium Pro. Then the Pentium with MMX technology. And now the latest, the Pentium II, which is essentially a Pentium Pro with MMX.

(If you don’t see the “Intel Inside” logo on a PC, it’s a good bet that one of Intel’s competitors got there first. AMD hopes to gain sales with its MMX-capable K6 chip, which not only keeps pace with Intel’s Pentium II, but is cheaper. Cyrix’s 6x86MX, formerly known as the M2, falls somewhere between Intel’s Pentium MMX and Pentium II in terms of performance and is more like AMD’s K6 in price.)

With all these different classes of Pentium chips bouncing around the computer market, it’s hard to know what you really need.

Let me start out by explaining MMX. It stands for multimedia extensions, and it’s more of a clever innovation than a revolutionary new technology. The folks at Intel figured out how to fiddle with some of the existing circuitry on a Pentium chip and optimize it for running multimedia applications--desktop video, computer animation, 3-D games and the like.

One thing you need to realize, though, is that MMX will only help you if you’re using applications that are designed to take advantage of MMX. Granted, there are plenty of software companies out there developing MMX applications, but don’t expect an MMX-enabled chip to do anything for your current applications.

I can make this whole discussion a little easier by telling you to forget about the Pentium Pro altogether. It’s been sent to the CPU graveyard by the Pentium II, so you don’t even have to consider it when you’re trying to sort out this chip madness.

That leaves you with the basic Pentium, the Pentium with MMX and the Pentium II, all of which are available on the market right now. What’s the best deal? It depends on what you want to do.

It was only a year or so ago that a 166-megahertz Pentium processor was the hot chip on the market. It’s still a darned fast chip, and since it’s been knocked down a couple of notches on the CPU totem pole, the price for a chip like this is very attractive.

In fact, you can get a complete system (“complete” in computer marketing means without the monitor, something I’ve never quite figured out) for under a grand. And I’m not talking about some funky computer from a no-name computer shop. Big names like Compaq and Hewlett-Packard are now offering systems in this price range.

If you normally use your computer for what I call traditional applications--word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, e-mail, etc.--this is plenty of computer. A home office user who isn’t engaged in highly graphical work is a likely candidate for one of these systems.

The next step up is a Pentium processor with MMX. If you’re really into multimedia and gaming, this is the type of system you should be looking at. Maybe your current games and multimedia titles can’t take advantage of the MMX technology, but the ones you buy next most likely will.

Naturally, you’re going to pay more for a system like this, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the CPU is more expensive. Furthermore, if you’re the type of person who had to be the first on the block with “Hexen II” or “Flight Simulator 98,” you’re probably also the person who wants a faster CD-ROM drive, bigger multimedia speakers and a larger monitor than your e-mail-and-word-processing neighbor. That all adds up.

This brings us to the Pentium II, the Big Kahuna, at least for the time being. Who in the home market is likely to need a Pentium II? The truth is, hardly anybody. Despite what the foil-wrapped demonstrators on the TV commercials might have you believe, the Pentium II is really a workstation-class CPU.

By workstation-class, I mean the Pentium II is a great processor for high-end professional work. If you make your living doing multimedia development, computer-assisted design or 3-D modeling of some sort, a Pentium II is a worthwhile investment. It will definitely save you time--and, as we all know, in business, time is money.

So why is Intel pushing the Pentium II processor on TV? Well, when you consider that a fast Pentium II processor costs about four times as much as that Pentium/166 chip, it’s easy to see why Intel would rather steer you toward the Pentium II.

Of course, many people will probably tell you that if you have the money, you’re better off buying the more expensive system now because it will serve you longer as technology advances.

That’s true, but consider this: Suppose you have the option now to buy a Pentium system for $1,000 or a Pentium II system for $3,000. If you buy the Pentium system now and then wait for Pentium II prices to drop (which they inevitably will) to the point where you can upgrade for an additional $1,500, you’ll be $500 ahead of the game, and you’ll have spread that expense out over a longer period.

My bottom-line advice: Unless you have money to burn, buy what you need now and upgrade when the time is right.

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Kim Komando is a TV host, syndicated talk radio host, author and entrepreneur. You can visit her on the Web at https://www.komando.com or e-mail her at komando@komando.com