is intel actually as popular as it should be?

i better pick up INTEL

Intel is badly beating AMD these days, both in performance and in energy efficiency: http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/cpus/index.x?pg=1 Because of this, and also because of counteractive price cuts by Intel (intended to undermine the only "advantage" to purchasing AMD chips), AMD's revenue has dropped dangerously low: http://www.betanews.com/article/AMD_Revenue_Falls_Amid_Intel_Pressure/1152287832 Now, AMD is desperate. Because they can't beat Intel, they're making ridiculous claims that Intel is abusing its dominant power. AMD's claims are based on publicly available information, and plainly speculative: http://www.betanews.com/article/AMDs_War_with_Intel_Becomes_a_Street_Brawl/1186183278 When AMD loses this suit, they will look stupid in front of all their loyalists. And of course they also know that Intel is preparing to launch their new 45 nm chips, while AMD continues to trail miles behind in the current 65 nm arena. When this happens, I'll be surprised if AMD doesn't lose a few of the deals it recently made with several PC makers to start selling more AMD-powered machines. People won't want them anymore. This could actually be a bad thing for an Intel loyalist like myself, because if they regain their monopoly, they'll raise their prices again. :( My advice to you is to get a Core 2 Duo machine, and get it while prices are still low.