How Does Motorola Processors Compare To Intel And AMD?

AMD/Intel processors are really about the same thing.  They run the same software and operate in a very similar manner.  AMD is often less expensive than Intel, and depending on what you use a computer for one may be somewhat faster than the other.

Motorola has been largely relegated to the "also-ran" category of microprocessor manufactures since Apple computer stopped using them in favor of the IBM Power PC processor (Apple has since switched to Intel).  In terms of how Motorola compares "under the hood" to Intel/AMD, the difference is night and day.

Motorola had an excellent 32 bit processor design years before Intel.  Furthermore, the design of the Motorola 68000 processor line (from a programmer's perspective) was immensely better.  The two major features of the 68000 line that made this true were 1) orthogonality of register access and 2) number of registers available.  These features made writing code for Motorola CPUs much simpler.

These issues aside, IBMs decision to use Intel processors in the original 5150 PC design created such a large revenue stream for Intel that they were ultimately able to improve the 8088 line to the power houses that they are today - that is why Motorola is largely an "also-ran".