Surfing Silicon Valley: Pentium III, So What?

March 8, 1999
Web posted at: 4:44 p.m. EST (2144 GMT)

By San Francisco Bureau Chief Greg Lefevre

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) - The Pentium III is being touted as being faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall applications in a single keyclick.

So?

I'm still stuck behind the 28.8-ball and no machine, no matter how lickety-split, is going to make most of what I do appear any faster.

Analyst John Woo says most applications don't need the kind of speed that the Pentium III offers. Besides there's nearly nothing out there right now that uses the 70 extra instruction sets that the new chip needs to go quicker.

But it breaks the 500-megahertz barrier, you say!

So?

My car has a V8 engine, gobs of acceleration and a superb suspension system. But nothing my car has in it can make the four-banger slow poke in front of me on Interstate 280 go any faster.

I will grant that there is a certain amount of testosterone-based gratification knowing that your machine is faster. I've even heard sales hype call faster machines "more robust."

Aaargh! Give me a break.

Give me a machine that won't lock up when a fax comes in, won't freeze while the printer makes up its mind about printing or not, and doesn't need to be restarted every morning because the screensaver won't unstick. Just make it cheap and easy.

My computers of choice: Any E-Machine, the iMac or a 486 running Linux.

A dear friend of mine who is computer-phobic but very adventurous wants something bigger than her old, slow Packard-Bell. We've strolled up and down the aisles but keep coming back to the cheapies.

Want to surf? All you need, REALLY, is a v.90 modem and 32 megs of ram.

Want to write? All you REALLY need is "Apple Works," "MS Works" or "Scorpion." Forget "Word." It's like using a Mack truck to deliver a single pizza.

Want to do your finances? All you REALLY need is "Quicken," which runs on nearly anything.

Does any of that take 500 megahertz?

No.

If you play games, buy a card. That way you get exactly the performance you want. Don't make me pay more for my computer all pumped up with extra stuff that YOU want on yours.

All of this is a point seen and seized by the likes of AMD and Cyrix. They make cheaper versions of PC microprocessors that satisfy customers and mystify the industry giants.

Less is more.

Surf on...