Hi everyone
I have to buy a new computer - mine is far outdated -and I have to choose between such processors as celeron, athlon and pentium.  Now pentium is easy to understand - p4 is better than p3.  But athlon and celeron and anything else out there is all gobbledegook to me!  Can anyone give me the processor 101 to help me make my choice.  
ThanksIt is very easy.

Choose AMD and you will be suffering with heat problems for the rest of the processor/mainboard life or choose Intel and never have any worries unless you DECIDE to overclock it.

Celeron and Pentium are the same brand; Intel .

Athlon is made by AMD.

Hello Raptor
So THAT's what the guy in the store meant when he said they were hot.  I thought he meant they were the most popular!!!
OK so if I rule out athlon then if YOU were comparing celeron and pentiums IS one better than the other?  AMD processors also require more power to function.

Here is an interesting link for you:

Intel Desktop Processor Comparison Chart

I do not know if a Celeron is more powerful than a Pentium.

I made the mistake of buying AMD. And I recently had to replace it because I had damaged my CPU whilst attempting to install a new cooler.Thanks I'll CHECK out the site.
I think that learning from someone far more knowledgable than I that the amd processors are notoriously hot and therefore not the best choice will be probably one of the best bits of information I could hope to gain.  
I know nothing about celeron v pentium, though I note that computers with celeron processors inside seem to cost less than pentiums.  Perhaps this is something to consider in that you get what you pay for?T W.....When selecting a new computer..there are several things to consider.  what do you plan on doing with it. How many dollars are you prepared to spend.
you have had one before so you should have some idea of what you want.....If you are into games ...them you want a fast powerful processor with a fair bit of ram .
As far as processors go there are two choices......
INTEL or AMD and they both make good units......
Intel has the Pentium and Celeron.
AMD Athlon64 .....64 bit technology.....
Typically the AMD processors tend to run a little warmer than the INTEL......but if you use them for what they were designed for they preform just fine......I have 1 pc with a AMD processor and 1 with a Pentium  and they both work fine......however I can tell you that the Pentium has more power than the AMD ....even though the AMD is  a faster processor.
If you have the money .....then go for a P4 or a AMD 64
and beyond that its up to you as to what you want.

Hope this helps

dl65  all amd .....are overclocked that way they run hot ....intel cpu...celeron is the cheapo vresion of intel and a bit sluggish...p3 or 4..is the way to go supported by ddram and a nice witney mobo........no need for flash plug-in GRAPHICS card..as intel has its own graphic ACCELERATOR which no one uses let the cpu work)..some do some dont.Okay, you dont need to read any of these peoples responses. AMD are great, really fast and if you know how to SETUP a computer you will be happy. But Pentium is the way to go to be safe. Next step, Celeron is way slower and weaker then Pentium. Celeron is great for the net and word processing and things that dont require alot of punch. Pentium 4 persay is for gaming, and a really fast computer when it comes to say video editing and stuff of that sort. You got a few Grand to spend Look at www.alienware.com you can get some of the best most porwerful and safe computers there are. And they have a great setup with Athalon processors. they dont burn up. They also have great computers that use Pentium... Good luck. Quote

Okay, you dont need to read any of these peoples responses. AMD are great, really fast and if you know how to setup a computer you will be happy. But Pentium is the way to go to be safe.