A lot has happened in the PC industry in recent months and much more is shortly to come. The good news is however that as we approach this holiday's season, it is indeed an excellent time to buy a new PC.

Intel Core 2 Duo processors have become firmly established and prices are beginning to drop across the board. Not only that, but Kentsfield (quad-core) has made its appearance already and while it doesn't offer much in terms of gaming performance, it also means that dual-core processors are here to stay. Microsoft is just about to release Windows Vista to the public, and what should be the last batch of DirectX 9 GPUs have been released by Nvidia and ATI. In addition, Nvidia has announced its GeForce 8 series which should start to fill store shelves eventually and drive the prices of DX9 cards even further now.

The guide this month will be in the $1200-$1800 bracket. This mid-range is the happy meeting of performance and cost, where you can really get the most for your money.