Since the CPU determines everything else about a computer, it is obviously pretty important. It would be possible to buy a computer and then learn that all the programs you want are written for different CPUs. To avoid this situation, you need to carefully think about what you want from your computer. Visit friends who have computers, look around in the stores, and think about what you really want your computer to do. Go to a software store and look at the programs on the shelves. They will almost always have a little sticker on the box explaining what kind of processor you need to run that particular program. If you see ten programs that you might purchase some day, and eight of them require a 486 or higher chip, an IBM compatible with a 486 or Pentium chip is probably the machine for you. If you really like the interface on Macintosh computers, and don't want to learn anything else, that might be your computer. After you have chosen the type of cpu, you will need to choose a speed. The faster chips are more expensive. Again, look at the software you will want to run. If you can get by with a computer running at 33Mhz, why buy anything faster? Certainly you have more options with a faster cpu, but think about what you will use the computer for. If you will be playing games or doing other graphics - intensive work, a high speed CPU is very important. If most of your time is spent with word processing, the speed is not such a factor. While using word processing programs, even the slowest computers spend most of their time sitting and waiting for the user to type in a character. A very slow computer by today's standards might cycle 33 million times a second. How fast do you type? A general guideline might be to buy as fast a CPU as you can afford, but to worry a little less about speed if you are just using your computer for word processing.