Results of this week's SNET Internet survey predictably showed that our subscribers access the Internet from a wide range of computers, including some that certainly don't meet our system requirements. That's OK with us -- if your 286 suits you just fine, our hat's off to you. ;-)

The results:

Q: What microprocessor do you use in your primary computer?

• 286 or older - 31 (1%)
• 386 - 31 (1%)
• 486 - 137 (4%)
• Pentium-class 60-100 - 154 (5%)
• Pentium-class 133-150 - 270 (8%)
• Pentium-class 166-300 - 746 (22%)
• Celeron - 295 (9%)
• P2 class - 461 (14%)
• P3 class - 437 (13%)
• Mac 68000 series - 15 (0%)
• Older Mac PowerPC - 41 (1%)
• Mac G3 - 60 (2%)
• Mac G4 - 25 (1%)
• Other - 180 (5%)
• Don't know - 482 (14%)

Your comments:

"How fast is fast enough??? With the last batch of flubs by Intel, I wonder if Andy Grove is hoping that he isn't blamed. It's a company like AMD that will keep Intel on their toes to make good working processors, and not one full of glitches.

"Most software can't use all that power, because it is 2-5 years behind. Where it will shine is in multimedia content of the web and high end apps that will need all that power.

"Now if we can buy lots of ram for a cheap price to run those 1 GHZ and faster machines, it might be worth it. I know I can't afford Rambus ram, not when it's $800 for only 64mb, and you need at least 128mb to run decently.

"Only time will tell." G.M.K., No Town

"What no high end socket7 AMD's ?" Scott, Oakville

"Was AMD not listed on purpose? How about Cyrex, or Evergreen. They are also Pentium class units, and there are many out there. I use a K-6/2 450 by AMD. It benchmarks at slightly overrated speed. It cost about 2/3 what a 333 mhz Celeron would, and has on-board diagnostics and a very sophisticated thermostat. I will probably replace it with an AMD ATHLON when I go DSL" J.H.I., Glastonbury

"You should have included AMD 300+ because its not really a P2." Jeremy, New London

Editor's Note: We thought we had the AMD and Cyrix chips covered by saying "Pentium Class" instead of just Pentium ... which admittedly is Intel-centric, but we felt we already had too many choices and something had to give.