AMD processors are just as efficient as Intel if not more so. Quite obviously it’s not possible to run an Intel CPU on an AMD socketed board; but, having used AMD processors in 98% of my builds I have no complaints.

If you’re looking at building a gaming PC, or are interested in overclocking, then Intel is the processor brand you should use. However for general computing purposes, AMD is a good sturdy reliable chip.

(If you’re going quad-core, Intel quad core 2 duos perform much better than all but the latest AMD Phenoms. Dual-core: AMD or Intel will suffice; bearing in mind the above paragraph.)

HCL: Well all I’ll say on that is that Microsoft are being/have been sued for claiming that hardware is Vista compatible when in fact it’ll only work with Vista Home Premium.

A few words on hard-drives:

The Chinese-made Seagate hard-drives are worse than Maxtors; although the Korean-made Seagate drives are excellent. (At least this has been the case up until recently.)

Maxtors are throwaway drives. I think the entire tech industry is agreed on that.

Hitachi are fairly-decent drives. I use them frequently and have had even less problems with them than with Seagate equivalents.

Rich recommends Western Digital whereas I’m not at all keen on WD. We’ll agree to differ. make up your own mind on which brand of hard-drive you use.