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AMD Announces New Low-End Processor Line
beaverbrother points out these articles at CoolTechZone
and PC Magazine, writing "AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is slated to launch a new Sempron line of processors this summer, to compete with Intel's Celeron line. The processors are designed to perform basic tasks, such as word processing, and more advanced tasks, like playing video, with ease."
So, the marketing strategy is that the new chip name sounds so similar that people will get confused and buy a Sempron when they meant to buy a Celeron?
Well, at least it sounds less like vegetable.
Celeron, Duron, and now Sempron Am I missing something?
Why did they change the name? People just getting sick of duron? Celeron never changed its name for as long as its been around.
I purchased a boxed XP 2500 w/ motherboard from Fry's this weekend for $69.00. The Athlons are already a better deal than the Celerons.
The general idea isn't so much to compete with Intel in the North American market as much as it is to undercut them massively in Asia and Latin America. You may recall that AMD killed the Duron line in 2002 only to bring it back later for sales in China (sales that they consider to be strong, and also great for branding).
These will probably work fine in thin clients connected to a server running a stable, multitasking, multi-user OS. Actually, they may even be overkill for that.
Imagine a tiny motherboard using one of these with a basic amount of soldered-in RAM, on-board video and NIC, and an on-board boot flash containing LTSP. Voila, a compact, cheap license-free, diskless, plug-and-play, workstation! How's that for putting Linux on the desktop?
An open hardware project, anyone?
Standard Socket A boards (Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron) are also able to halt the system or produce an error noise once a certain temperature is reached. This applies to all nForce 2 chipsets, and KTxxx chipsets. I am unsure about others.
hey!
This statement does not come from the PC Magazine. It is the original statement which you can also find in the press release from AMD...
In fact you can simply find the real aim of AMD. They do not want to bring a new highend processor but an well performing "everybody" or "always computing" CPU.
And finally... It is clear, that AMD offers its low cost users much more performance than intel does with its silly celeron line...
I do video encoding using Duron 1.3 Ghz. I can rip and encode a whole DVD movie in about 4-6 Hrs. These new processors will be definetely faster than a Duron 1.3Ghz, which IMHO is fast enuf.
\Sim"per\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Simpered; p. pr. & vb. n. Simpering.] [Cf. Norw. semper fine, smart, dial. Dan. semper, simper, affected, coy, prudish, OSw. semper one who affectedly refrains from eating, Sw. sipp finical, prim, LG. sipp.] 1. To smile in a silly, affected, or conceited manner.
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Seems to me that AMD is trying to cash in on the buzz surrounding the Centrino marketing push that Intel is making.
I can't say I blame them. It's a good idea. AMD has always been a good "budget" performer. Intel may be king of the hill in raw processing power, but in the price/performance battle it's AMD all the way.
Some might label me as an AMD fanboy because I haven't bought an Intel chip since the P2-300 and because I have sworn off Intel because of the P3's processor ID fiasco. That's fine with me.
Spend more on Intel than I do on AMD and you'll get a 10% performance bonus at the cost of a 25% price premium.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
The processors are designed to perform basic tasks, such as word processing...
That's officially the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
Athlon XP is already competing with Celeron. In the UK, a 2.8 GHz Celery will cost me 86. An Athlon 2800 XP (which as most of you will know will kick the Celery's arse until the cows come home) will cost you... 67!
Both prices taken from aria.co.uk, there may be slight differences elsewhere. But as you can see, the superior Athlon is already undercuttnig the crappy Celeron. The point of the Sempron is to (hugely) undercut the Athlon in order to provide a chip that's cheap as... er... chips.
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