Just how many "brains" does a PC need?

By Duncan Martell

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Just how many "brains" does your personal computer need, anyway?

Not that buying a PC was ever as easy as, say, buying a toaster or an electric toothbrush, but the companies that make the electronic brains, or microprocessors, for PCs today have managed to make it even more complicated.

It used to be that Intel Corp (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the biggest maker of chips that are the central computing engines of PCs, and rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) would sell to PC makers versions of the same chip that run at faster speeds.

As far as consumers were concerned, Intel made Pentium chips and AMD made Athlon chips. Yet that hasn't been the case for a while now, and in the last few years, the choices facing consumers when they go to buy a PC have mushroomed.

With computer games becoming more mainstream and more people making and editing digital pictures and home movies, PCs can now boast microprocessors with two brains, four brains, and soon, even more.

But does the average Joe really need such souped-up chips?

"It's an interesting question," said Tim Bajarin, a long-time technology analyst and consultant with Creative Strategies. "If the basic issue is productivity like Web browsing, word processing and e-mail, you don't need all that much. A dual-core processor is good enough."

IF I ONLY HAD TWO BRAINS...