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Dell Finally Goes for AMD

this great guy writes "You read it correctly. It had to happen one day. According to Forbes 'Dell Inc has informed its Taiwan contract makers of plans to develop devices based on Advanced Micro Devices Inc's microprocessors, and these suppliers are awaiting orders for global shipment, the Economic Daily News reported, citing industry sources.'"

9 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. With a pinch of salt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As long as only Forbes are saying it, I would take it with a large pinch of salt. I've seen enough of their reports written by/for SCO to know they can't be relied on to check their facts.

  2. Must be renegotiation time w/Intel again by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems whenever Dell needs more price concessions from Intel, they just have to dangle the possibility out there that they could start offering AMD-powered systems. I suspect after a few quick phone calls, Dell will get cheaper processors and this "rumour" will be relegated to the dustbin (again). Sigh...

  3. Re:intel... by masklinn · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Anyone know why Intel, with all their resources, didn't have a decent x64, multi-core product before AMD? Never mind one that uses fewer watts.

    Because Intel invested all it's brainpower into the overpriced Itanic whose incompatibility with x86-32 made every single potential buyer back from, as few people are interrested in a platform with no OS and barely a handful of apps not including your own legacy apps.

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  4. Must be negotiating with Intel again... by PhiltheeG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are they shopping for a another price break from Intel for staying with a single vendor?

    --
    -Phil
    Shoot questions, first ask later...
  5. Re:Loyalty by masklinn · · Score: 5, Insightful
    What matters is the price point here. We don't buy AMD because they're "better" than Intel - a clock is a clock. They're no more or less stable, no better supported. We buy them because they're cheaper.

    Duh, no, people DO buy AMD because it's "better". Only Intel's marketting droids and retarded monkeys used to think that "a clock is a clock". AMD chips have been outperforming Intel's for years now, clock for clock (shall I remind you that top of the line P4 reach 4GHz and still get their balls busted by Athlon64 who have yet to reach 3GHz out of the box?)

    People buy AMD because they feature

    • Better overall performances per $
    • Much better performance per watt
    • A "true" dual core in the case of AthlonX2 and dual core Opterons
    • Used to be the only chips handling both 32 and 64-bit (and managed that as while still beating the crap of the purely 32-bit P4 in 32-bit apps)

    Last thing about the performance/clock thing: Pentium-M beat the living shit out of P4 clock for clock 95% of the time.

    Shame Intel didn't work on scaling them to high frequencies, 2.5GHz-ish desktop Pentium-M would at least put some kind of fight against Athlon64 chips.

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  6. Re:Nothing but good... by theStorminMormon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ditto that.

    If the lawsuit has managed to crack open Dell to using AMD processors because Intel has to mind its manners with a lawsuit on the horizon then even if the lawsuit doesn't procede it's done what it needed to do: level the playing field.

    It's true that AMD marketting hasn't been the best, but it's also true that Intel marketting has convinced the majority of casual users that more GHZ = more performance always. And all questions of marketing aside, I think AMD has a real case.

    -stormin

    --
    The Southern Baptist Convention has creationism. On Slashdot, we have porn.
  7. Re:How long by zenneth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    AMD isn't exactly a garage-based company. They've had several "big breaks" already, and I can remember seeing 486 AMDs running toe-to-toe with 486 Intels. This is just another push, but we'll see if it continues, and whether it even turns out to be true. Personally, I have been building AMD machines almost exclusively for the last 10 years. I moved from AMD to Intel when the Celeron 300a made its debut, but then the Athlon pulled me back less than a year later. I'm not sure where this will take AMD, but Dell using their processors to make some high-end gaming rigs would be nice... except for the fact that they're pretty limited regarding BIOS and other system tweaks. That is the one area Dell could really make some adjustments... and the one reason I don't recommend anyone buy from a major distributor of manufactured PCs.

    --
    The Chronic *WHAT* les of Narnia!
  8. Re:It didn't really have to happen by brxndxn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't have the time to fathom the differences between 47 desktop models, 37 laptops, 53 laser printers and 73 inkjets with varying specs.

    OMG.. How the hell do you buy groceries then? There's like 40 different types of toothpaste. God.. that must scare the crap out of you.

    You're the first person I've ever heard of condemning variety..

    --
    --- We need more Ron Paul!
  9. This, is complete horse-shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    AMD has beaten Intel where marketing makes a difference, at Retail. It was only recently reported here on Slashdot that AMD had surpassed Intel in retail sales. And everyone poo-pooed it because it doesn't include the OEM manufacturers like Dell. So clearly AMD's marketing is working if they're outpacing Intel in the retail channel.

    Getting Dell to ship AMD Boxes has nothing to do with marketing and EVERYTHING to do with Intel's anti-trust behaviour, and back-room dealings. Marketing by AMD has no impact on whether Dell will ship AMD Boxes (most of the other boxed OEM's already ship AMD based systems).