in the long run
I know that the P4 right now is the fasted processor available, (not the cheapest), and the Athlon XP is pretty darn fast at 1.8 GHz probably about equal to 2.3B Ghz on a P4...
Here's my issue... almost everybody hates intel, but for some reason they're still in business. The reason why is because they're one of the best companies in the world, and everybody hates the big guys. I'll admit that the Athlon Price/Performance ratio is in AMD's favor (big time), but just a couple years ago, AMD was charging $858 for the 700Mhz Athlon and more than $1000 for 1.0Ghz athlon. My point is, Intel has always listened to the public on what they want, and they've came a long way since the first P4, so give them a little credit... and I may lean towards Intel in terms of companies, but that does mean I will never buy AMD. I just prefer comanies that been proved year after year.
Oh and by the way, all you people praising Hammer CPU's, AMD's own Jerry Sanders said not to expect too much, and stop bringing all this hype to the new processor. And Intel has a little trick up their sleeve with Prescott and Yamhill...