Is SSE4 necessary for a processor if I want it to last 10 years?

I will only be using the system for word processing, internet, and streaming video from the internet. It is my understanding that some HD formats already use it (DivX).

What exactly is it?

 

You can't buy anything in this industry which will be at least normally useful in 10 years!
Look back...desktops (notebooks are much much worse) from 1999 were hopelessly obsolete by 2006. I don't mean you can't game on them, but on the majority of those computers you can not install XP, just Windows 2000, which means that you can't install some current software. This software would be necessary for current internet browsing or word processing! (examples: current IE (or even IE7), a lot of security fixes, Office 2003 (were are not even talking about Office 2007) and so on...

Calculate for 5 years and be happy if it works in 10 years.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE4

cheers ...

 

Forgot to mention mentio that I did Google SSE4.

Everything I read was esoteric.

 

I have a 1997 laptop that had win2000 installed with office 2003.

 

While this is usually the case, I'd say there are exceptions... my dad's still using a 1998 Dell Dimension with a Pentium III on a relatively consistent basis. Runs XP just as well, if not better, than his EEE900.

Then you've got those Model M keyboards that're still chugging away twenty years later...

 

Must be 1999, as Pentium III wasn't out in 1998. But you probably can run XP on most 1999 computers. I know it would run on my dad's old 1999 Pentium II. Probably would benefit hugely from a memory upgrade, but it would run. Practical for today? Not particularly, but if the memory were maxed out, a newer GPU put in for games (or at least, increasing the VRAM in the upgradable Matrox video card), and the ethernet upgraded to something with drivers for OS'es after Windows 95 (which causes issues on Win98, let alone XP) , it could be useful, so long as you relegated virus scanning to designated times rather than active scanning. But it was also top-of-the-line at the beginning of 1999 - so if you're thinking $400 laptop for 10 years, don't count on it, even for fairly light usage.

The main things will be build quality (especially for a laptop), and upgradability, especially in RAM. The CPU feature set won't be new in 2019, but you can run most programs on a Pentium II today - just without the optimizations that newer processors will give you. I wouldn't worry about a particular instruction set unless you know you will need it.

Also, if you were hoping for a modern web browser on Windows 98 today, you'd have the best look with Opera 9.6 (the latest version). It supports all versions back through Windows 95. By comparison, Firefox 3.5 requires 2K, and IE8 requires XP. Can't guarantee who will support XP or Vista in 2019, but broadening your web browser horizons with XP by then may be necessary.

 

I don't know about SSE4 but my notebook only last for 5 years. I bought my "state of the art" notebook in 2001 (Pentium III 700MHz). By the year 2006, it could no longer play streaming video over the internet (CNN, MSNBC) without pausing every 5 or 6 seconds. The CPU just couldn't keep up with the newest Adobe Flash Player. Downloading large files over broadband is not a problem though.