well that isn't gonna happen again
WindowsXP has been around for a LONG TIME (by software years, it's old, it's about 3 or 4, Linux is rebuilt monthly...Mac OS is rebuilt quarterly-ish)
Windows 64 isn't going to hit mainstream retial, at least not that I see currently
and you can DL it from MS afaik (i know some people who have it, they got it from MS somehow...)
ok
WinXP 64bit is a professionally targeted OS
their plan is to have
WindowsXP Home Edition, 32-bit
WindowsXP Professional Edition, 32-bit
and WindowsXP Professional x64-Edition
which is the 64-bit version
you used to be able to DL a beta versoin, but that is now closed
i'm guessing you could wait 3 months and it'll hit store shelves
either way
i'd say just grab an Athlon64 and WinXP Home (or Pro if you need mroe networking features (Home isn't bad btw, it's just basic, as in, it's not designed to work in a large office)
it'll work fine
the OS you should be waiting for is Windows Longhorn
which is MS' new OS, slated for next year (2006)
and the computer industry is seeming about 6 months away from having powerful enough parts to run it (it supposedly will eat up system resources like no other)
Intel just released dual core on their high end chips
Intel just added SLI Support
AMD is brining Dual Core probably before mid-summer (or by mid-summer)
nVidia and ATI are working on next gen gfx cores (R520 and nVidia's is probably NV50)
Hitachi broke the disk storage barrier, and created a 500GB HDD (which i have not seen for sale yet...but i know it's out there)
Longhorn was projected to need a multiple TB drive (1TB =1000GB) for storage, like 8GB of RAM or something, and an FX 5900 Ultra just to run the desktop...which is untrue (MS canned Longhorn's "new and innovative" GUI (Avalon) as it was taking forever)
i'd say just buy a system if you need it
or wait until May/June
so Intel can mature dual core a bit more (it works, but once it gets into the market, single core prices will go down...which is an advantage if your trying to save cash)
and AMD should bring dual core out quickly