I’ve installed the new tools without problems. I’ve installed the Intel HAXM. I’ve verified (with sc query intelhaxm) that the Intel service is running. I’ve also confirmed the machine (a Lenovo ThinkCentre) supports Intel Virtualization Technology.
So why in the AVD Manager is the CPU/ABI field fixed at ARM for every single platform version of Android?
At the time of this writing, the only available x86 emulator image is for Android 2.3.3 (API Level 10), listed in the SDK Manager as “Intel Atom x86 System Image”. Hopefully others will become available in the future.
BTW, for those reading this question and answer and going “huh?”, the r17 edition of the Android developer tools added support for native x86 emulators, which will run somewhat faster than their ARM emulator equivalents.