[TECnewhw] CPU upgrade - probably last chance

[Trevor Cordes]

Intel is changing over the CPU family lines again and many old products 
are slated to be dropped.  This means that CPU's that are compatible with 
many old boards are not going to be available much longer.  Once 
compatible CPU's are gone, your only chance to upgrade the speed of your 
computer is with completely new guts -- motherboard, CPU and RAM -- which 
also requires a Windows reinstall and hence is very time consuming and 
expensive.

If you have a 1.3GHz or faster processor, basically any "P4" or "P4 
Celeron", or any "Socket 478" CPU, running at a 400 or 533MHz bus, then 
this applies to you.  You can find that information on your original 
invoice.  Or as a rule of thumb, any computer purchased later than summer 
2002 will have this type of CPU.

If you have a 533bus (most of you will), you can upgrade to a 2.8GHz
"real" P4 (not "celeron"), which is basically the best CPU you can put in
those systems, and by today's standards is quite a nice fast CPU.  If you
have an older 400 bus board, you can upgrade to 2.0GHz "real" P4.

Your total price for the 2.8/533 upgrade is only $245 OR LESS + taxes,
which includes while-U-wait installation, configuration, quick-testing and
trade-in of your old CPU.  That prices assumes a trade-in of a celeron 
1.7GHz.  Better CPU's will have better trade-in values.  On-site 
installation is an additional $20.

If you have a 400bus, the total price for the 2.0/400 is $190 OR LESS + 
taxes.  The rest is exactly the same as the 2.8/533 upgrade details above.

Bulk discounts are available if you are upgrading 2 or more systems.

You will want to think about this upgrade if you have a system you want to 
get a few more years life out of before having to do a major upgrade.  You 
also want to consider this if your Windows system is complex or would be 
a big pain to reinstall.

Upgrading a CPU takes only a few minutes and is a painless process. 
Absolutely nothing has to be done or tweaked in Windows for the new CPU to
work.

If you are interested, send me an email soon as stock of these CPU's could 
disappear literally over night without advance warning.

Note, I am just going by industry rumours and online tech/geek news.  
There is a possibility the CPU's will be available for much longer.  
However, in the past I have watched what Intel does and this feels like 
the right time to email this announcement.