I have a lot of interests–most of them technology–and this holiday season in particular has got me STANDING on my soap box.  Why?  Because of the inevitable confusion that the consumer will go through when buying a PC (personal computer).  Why will he/she be confused?  Because of the fragmentation of the PC market this holiday buying season, of course.

We’ve always had hardware choices: HP, Sony, eMachines …and of course, Mac.  We’ve had operating system choices, too: Mac vs. PC.  But this year we’ll be faced with more choices then ever.  For example, do you buy a Pentium 4M, a Core Duo, a Core 2 Duo, a Core 2 Duo with Windows XP Home, a Core 2 Duo with Windows XP Pro, a Core 2 Duo with Windows XP Media Center Edition, a Core Duo with Windows XP Home?  A Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro?  A Mac (in general) that you can then put Windows XP on?  How about Vista.  Do you buy a PC that’s Vista Capable (what does that mean?), Vista Ready?  We also still have Intel vs. AMD, and with Dell selling AMD boxes, the confusion will be worse then ever!  Then we’ll hear the “well, should I wait since Vista isn’t out yet?”  Microsoft has made that more fun by offering a coupon if you buy a computer now, that will give you a discount on Vista when it ships.  And we still have the “but aren’t faster processors coming out anyway so shouldn’t I hold off for now?” question.

I can’t wait for friends and family to start asking that “any recommendations?” question this year.