AMD is beginning to "get it" as far as marketing moves are concerned. In a shrewd move AMD have decided to name their new chip, codenamed Palomino, the Athlon 4. This change in naming strategy does not mean that any practical changes will be made to the chip but it does guarantee that AMD will remain in everyones mind as the company that first released its series 4 processor for Notebook pc's. Intel's Pentium 4 for Notebook's is not expected until Q2, 2002.
The new chip will include various improvements, the most important one being the reduction of power consumption. Current Athlon chips consume about 60 Watts of power, more than both Pentium 3 and 4's. This reduction of power consumption means that the new Athlon 4 chip will be added to Notebooks, it will then be followed by the server and desktop versions.
This name calling war has been going on for some time, AMD's K6-2 was positioned against the P2 and the K6-III was aiming at the P3. It does seem however, that AMD always waits for Intel to move first, so the question remains if Intel jumps of a cliff will AMD follow?