I am not the type of computer user who is interested in ever bigger and ever faster. But I did want my near 10 year old system updating a little so bought this A4-5300, some new RAM and a motherboard to go with it. My logic went along the lines of it being less hassle buying an APU rather than getting a new graphics card too, and also cheaper.
End result, my system is double quick compared to what it was and 5 times more capable. Of course, the addition of faster ram and all the new technologies incorporated in my new motherboard are in part responsible for the improved performance.
I did a brief performace test with around 20 browser windows open running in two different browser programs, with a couple of those playing Youtube video, Open Office and a few other programs / applications opened and running and the load on the CPU elements of the APU was around 50%. So it is plenty fast enough for the "normal home user." Obviously, not suitable for people who want to play leading edge PC games, but should be fine with what were leading edge PC games 5 or 6 years back.
Before deciding on the A4 I looked at Passmark scores for the chip and its graphics component, respectively double and triple what I was using beforehand. Not being a Windows user I cannot offer up any experience index scores for the APU but there is no question in my mind it is presently the best value way of upgrading for people who want their PC to keep pace with the extra demands placed upon it by evolving software and applications who are not power hungry users. Of course, the more you spend knowing what is value for money, even if it is just ten pounds, the more power and capabilities you get. But for the ever hard pressed like me who don't need a supercomputer, this is a great buy.