I was thinking the same thing Poert, especially those who want whatever is the best NOW, and aren't biased toward either AMD nor Intel. Hopefully, this will open an opportunity for AMD to close the gap a bit more and stiffen the competition between them. This should make for better product from both companies.

Exactly what I was thinking Im really surprised Intel is taking this long to come out with a 64bit chip. I thought they'd be quick, on the ball like AMD. Doesnt seem like a good idea from a marketing stand-point to take so long to the point where their rival, AMD, will have 2004 all to themselves. This situation could give AMD some new customers

I wonder, once 64bit reaches a considerable level in technology maturity, how many people will actually embrace it. Kind of a given that performance enthusiasts will immediately, but how about the average user at home? I wonder how both AMD and Intel will get the point across to them that 64bit is the new wave, that it's the way to go. I wonder if both companies will shift all development towards 64bit or still work on 32bit a little bit? Unlikely, but still possible.

How will this affect laptops and other portable devices?

Whoa, this is a first. Usually Intel wouldn't touch anything with a 10-foot pole that wasn't developed "in house" If they actually give AMD their props I'd be truly stunned

Itanium isn't X86 & is certainly not meant for the desktop market.

I think HP is still busy pulling its hair out after co-developping that chip with Intel.

I would like to pull HPs hair out for killing Alpha and going for this complete failure of Itanium/Itanic .

Not sure if everyone caught this but it's not going to take Intel one year to release the chip, it's actually going to be "soon." The one year part was for support for the CPU.

With that in mind, I actually agree with what Whittington said about the announcement freezing AMD's momentum. I mean, I would probably want to see how Intel's CPU turns out if I was in the market to get a 64-bit processor, because I'd hate to buy an AMD only to find out later that Intel's offering was much better.

I think you'll see it carry along just like any other advances.....once the prices drop, the OEM's will pick it up and most likely have a tendency to use the 64-bit as a selling point for their higher-than-introductory-point systems. Dell and HP would be the most likely to jump on it first based on their history.

Just my $.02

The news service at www.theregister.com/content/61/34555.html claims this implementation will pale and be lame compared to Athlon 64.

The Register News Site is where I usually go first for news. I love their sometimes wierd and often direct approach to what is going on. They generally call things like they see them.