Is Hyper Thread Technology of any benefit to typical home users?  I ask because I read somewhere that HTT required software to support it and there was very limited amounts of such software out there (and I assume most or all of it is aimed at professional rather than consumer use).

My current computer (1.2 GHz Athlon/384MB RAM/128MB Video/XP Pro) bogs down badly whenever a resource hog such as burning a CD, scanning for viruses or scanning for malware is at work.  I want to replace that computer with a Dell refurbished P4 2.6GHz/800MHz FSB/512MB RAM/128MB Video/XP Pro system that does not have HTT.  Will the lack of HTT make a signifcant difference?  I expect this computer to have a life cycle of about 3 or 4 years.  Should I hold out until the budget can afford an HTT processor?

Is there any signicant reason why I should buy a third party DVD +/- or - drive instead of the Dell +R/+RW drive?

What is the difference between all the flat panel monitors?  I see basic, digital, ultrasharp and ultrasharp digital flat panel monitors.  Do any or all models turn sideways for viewing long documents?

Thank you!

Don