Quoting Craig Sanders (cas@taz.net.au):
that's a 32-bit CPU from Sep 2006, nearly 9 years old. are you aware that you can upgrade to a modern machine for under $170?
e.g. the cheapest current parts combo i can find at MSY today is:
AMD A4-7300 64-bit dual-core CPU + GPU $58 ASRock A58M-HD+ motherboard $65 4G Kit DDR3-1333 RAM (2x2GB) $46
FWIW, I've been involved in a similar discussion on my LUG mailing list here on the USA's left coast, and we've been talking about new high-performance x86_64 motherboard / AMD SoC combos supporting up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM for ridiculously low prices. And, oddly enough, my leading example of same is a current ASRock mini-ITX motherboard bundled with a quad-core AMD A4-5000 'Kabini' SoC (aka 'APU'). And some almost-as-good similar boards (with slightly less powerful SoCs are even fanless. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157574 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157518 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681313536 Intriguing if hardware-limited tiny box (maxes out at 8GB): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883218035 (Prices will need to be converted to AUG$ from funny-looking green stuff.)
also, FYI, the Intel G1840 (a dual-core 64-bit celeron with built-in graphics) costs $55 but the cheapest Haswell Refresh motherboards start at nearly twice the price of the cheapest AMD FM2+ motherboards....and Intel, as usual, sucks at upgradability.
Total agreement. The 2003 AMD 'Jaguar' (Kabini/Temash) SoCs beat the hell out of most Celeron/Atom/etc. stuff except the server-grade Atom variants that are probably way overpriced. AMD's successor, the 2004 'Puma' (Beema/Mullins) SoCs are intriguing but are very nearly unobtainium. And, also, where I find them at all, for some daft reason I find 8GB RAM ceilings (cf. 32GB) -- which I find odd. Example (currently out of stock, as they sold like hotcakes) is the top end of CompuLab's Fitlet range: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/specifications/?model%5B%5D=FITLET-GI-C67... That uses the quad-core AMD A10-Micro 6700T, which is a 'Mullins' APU. Other Fitlet variants with less-powerful Mullins SoCs, are still in stock. AMD's 2015 successor to 'Puma' in the low-mains-draw, high-performance market, is suppoed to be an architecture callled 'Carrizo-L' , the low-power variant of the 'Carrizo' x86_64 arch. Not seen at all. It's weird that the most compelling low-power, high-RAM, fast hardware on the market is based on low-budget AMD chips from 2003. A conspiracy theorist might suppose AMD is being strangled out of the market (again). Or that they cannot get OEM uptake because the OEMs opt for cruddy ARM alternatives' bottom-dollar pricing because they assume few customers care enough to buy something that doesn't suck. Or both.