"clock speed is totally irrelevant"
You guys it's not about clock speed or electronics or sparks or silicon! It's not about the technology, its that intel designed the technology around the marketing, not because they wanted to make a fascinating piece of hardware. Why else does the average person think clock speed is everything? Why would a company want to build their product around the assumptions of average consumers when their technicians know they can make something better that has real performance rather than TV commercials and magazine ads. Do you see what we mean it has NOTHING to do with technical stats, it has to do with honesty, personal beliefs, and integrity and because of that intel makes me quite upset like tbird was saying, so please do not try to make this all technical. computers have so many bugs and software problems so that's why we need people to help run them, and sometimes we forget that a team of designers made the motherboard you just bought or the memory or processor. Which team do you want to support? Are they real hardware enthusiasts or just people itching for some cash? Too many people choose money as their main goal, and they end up making lots but the products are so unintelligent and uninspired.. hardware should have a human touch to it, like someone spent time to make something good, or the person who made it is as enthusiastic about it as you are. See what I mean? When your only goal is design the entire chip around the marketing that doesn't work. It's like trying to make up a special scientific theory just because it'll make you famous. No you do it because you believe in it and it's your passion and you love computers or games or programming or whatever.