[jmke]

It's that time of year again where everyone is thinking about the various gifts they might want - both to give and to receive. Figuring out which computer parts make the most sense to buy can be difficult, even more so for the less technical people out there. What's the difference between dual core and single core processors? What about the new quad core offering? Is it really worth spending two to four times as much money to get a high-end processor instead of one of the cheaper models? And what about the potential for upgrades? These are all important questions, and similar questions arise for practically every single computer component.

In order to help provide answers to these questions, we're going to step away from the regular AnandTech Buyer's Guides for a moment and provide a series of Holiday Buyer's Guides. The goal is to cover all of the important components in the next couple of weeks, with advice on which parts are the best buys for the holidays. Similar to our regular Buyer's Guides, we will be looking at component choices for various price segments. As we are focusing on individual components, we're going to break things down further in some cases, so we will have an Ultra Budget section, Entry Level, Midrange, High-End, and Extreme Performance recommendations. We won't just be focusing on a single choice for each category either, but we will be comparing and contrasting what is available in each price segment and why one option might make more sense for some people, while a slightly different choice might be better for others. We will also have a look at the upgrade potential for various platforms and provide suggestions on where a new CPU is a good idea and where you are best off to simply ditch your old system and start fresh. We'll start today with the core (no pun or Intel bias intended) of any system: the CPU.

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2876