Intel once said desktop buyers wouldn’t really need 64-bit capabilities until toward the end of the decade, but the company will make such capabilities a feature across its desktop lines next year.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker disclosed at its analyst meeting in New York that it will include 64-bit functionality on its desktop chips starting in 2005, a schedule that roughly coincides with the release of a 64-bit version of Windows for desktops coming next year. The functionality will appear even in the budget Celeron line.
The plan marks a definite acceleration for Intel. In February, company executives indicated that 64-bit chips for client computers–which will be able to access more data through a larger pool of memory than today’s chips–wouldn’t likely come until Microsoft releases Longhorn, a future version of Windows now due at the end of 2006.
Gee, I wonder why this happened… You wouldn’t think AMD would have anything to do with this would you? The fact that they intend to put this in the celeron procs too may likely push AMD to include 64 bits in more of its lower end chips like semprons t
Source: c|net

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