The world’s largest computer maker Dell has once again said that it would use processors by AMD, but remained tight-lipped over particular products. The chairman and the founder of the company also stressed that Dell did not have exclusive relationship with Intel Corp., who has historically been the only microprocessor supplier for the computer giant.
“Sure. We do not have an exclusive relationship with Intel,” said Michael Dell, chairman of Dell, when asked about Dell using AMD chips, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland, Reuters reports.
If Dell adopts chips by Advanced Micro Devices into computers it supplies, the machines will not only get a bit less expensive, but will also obtain additional performance in the high-end gaming market, as AMD’s processors often outperform Intel’s rivals in applications like games.
Mr. Dell declined to say whether he had any current plans to use AMD chips: “I do not have any new product to announce today”.
Dell has been historically rejecting AMD processors citing the world’s second largest x86 microprocessor maker’s inability to supply its chips in mass quantities. Indeed, Sunnyvale, California-based AMD has been suffering from chip shortages for years being unable to fulfill the demand towards its products due to various reasons.
Rumours about possible usage of processors by Advanced Micro Devices by Dell, the world’s largest computers maker, recently emerged once again when an analyst said that Dell might be stockpiling AMD chips to gear up for a large scale launch. Other rumours suggest that Dell’s recently unveiled XPS 600 Renegade will sport either AMD’s or Intel Corp.’s processors.
Comments currently:
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Discussion started: 01/27/06 04:35:45 AM
Latest comment: 08/25/06 02:02:42 PM
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1.
Laptops based on the Yamato tech with Nforce chipsets might be nice.
Guess we'll just have to see if the demand ever warrants it for them. The pain of being a behemoth is that they have a huge "enough market needed to make a product" overhead number.
We'll see I guess...
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Posted by: 
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Date: 01/27/06 04:35:45 AM]
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I agree - though one reason that Dell may have held off is DDR2 support. Powers of scale being what they are it's helpful to have one memory type across your platforms. I do tend to think as you do, that if Dell was going to use AMD they'd have done so before now. The other thought that creeps in is the "if Intel's offering is less than spectacular (meaning Conroe/Merom), then we may have to consider other options".
Why did my first comment focus on laptops? Because they are the growth market at the moment, and sales therein are starting to displace desktop sales. Both AMD and Intel are watching this. It may not last (oh the joy of trends), but for the moment it was just where my mind was at in the following of the market.
I do realize the cost effectiveness of the "whole package" concept. But, I would counter that with the fact that quite a bit of the computer building process these days is plug and play. Pop it in and it goes. You may well throw the 100 exceptions to that rule at me, and that's fine if that's your focus. However, it's the very fact that it's become so easy for nearly anyone to put together a PC that is threatening the bottom line of companies like Dell. One hand may point to that Intel "whole package" and say that this plug and play trend is proof why Dell has to stick strong with that Intel package. The other side will point to that trend and say that is the reason that Dell cannot afford to not offer items the market wants - because the market will simply go elsewhere to get them. Either argument has some extensive arguments behind it, however that is the heart of the matter. Is it wiser to stick to an extremely cost effective model and serve a declining portion of the market very cost effectively, or to follow the market and try to manage the cost issues that come with that? I'm fairly on the fence here, but ever so slightly in favor of the risk taking invovled in following the market. I've seen far to many companies play it safe, and lose 10 years later. But it is a risk. You can follow the market and still lose.
And of course, Intel could be back on top with the latter half of this year. But, sadly, I'm not believing that till I see working chips that really do work as well as they want us to believe.
:)
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Posted by: |
Date: 01/29/06 01:41:47 PM]
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