Dell prepping AMD-based laptops for Q4 '06?

As usual, there's no official word from Dell on any of this, but it's clear that they can't ignore AMD in the consumer space forever. According to a report by ZDNet Asia, Dell is planning to release laptops based on AMD's Sempron and Turion 64 X2 processors this October, kicking things off with some 15.4-inch models. The anonymous Dell exec behind the leak was quick to downplay things: "This is not a big deal," he said, "In order to remain competitive, we have to make sure that we have [a wide] enough variety of products to meet the market demand." Apparently a "wide variety" doesn't mean AMD chips unless Dell decides to use them. An AMD rep was a bit more forthcoming, saying "This is a sensitive topic, though we won't deny the fact that we are working with Dell on desktop and notebook PCs." He also went on to note: "Consumers will be able to buy AMD-based computers from Dell by the end of the year." If that doesn't sound like a positive confirmation, we don't know what does.

[Via DailyCE, thanks Sabir S.]

[Intrepid @ Aug 9th 2006 9:54AM]

Yay. We can't let intel have all the fun! This should help AMD replenish their R&D budget...
...And of course competion is good in everyones eyes (NVIDIA? Where are those chips we heard about?)

[Hunt @ Aug 9th 2006 11:26AM]

I have a feeling Dell is setting up AMD for a beatdown. Has anyone noticed the Turion X2 performance charts compared to Intel Core Duos? They're not so good (See http://xtreview.com/review81.htm). Coming from a lifer AMD fanboy (me), that's pretty disappointing.

Probably what's going to happen is that when Dell will start selling these AMD laptops, customers won't end up buying them because the performance is too low, then Dell will say, "See... that's why we never sold AMD before. We said they suck, and our customers say the same too". Granted, if Dell bought AMD BEFORE the whole Core Duo stuff, it would be a different story.

For the first time in years, AMD needs to get back on the ball seeing that Dell could make or break what little reputation they have left, or they could lose lots of business and end up finding themselves back in the pre-K8, NexGen processor days.

[Poopmaster @ Aug 9th 2006 2:05PM]

The beatdown philosophy makes no sense. Dell wants to make money. They'll probably buy AMD's chips now for ultra-cheap and put them in lower-end machines. This'll bring in money for both companies, gets rid of old stock, and gives AMD the cash for R&D. Dell can't afford to annoy customers at this point or play any more games.

[trout-101 @ Aug 9th 2006 3:33PM]

"Probably what's going to happen is that when Dell will start selling these AMD laptops, customers won't end up buying them because the performance is too low"

Well first they have to actualy make machines thar use AMD processors. So far Intel has paid enough in marketing and research dollars to offset any savings from AMD.

I always look at the CPU ratings and have concluded the don't matter in the real world. Most consumers won't be able to tell a difference unless the new machine sudenly ran slower than the old. The biggest bottle necks are the HDD and Network.

Besides most people don't know or would care what kind of CPU was in thier machines. The big one is price.

Now that AMD has ATI, they have a shot at providing Dell the same level of integration Intel provides. One of the secrets to Dell's ultra slim margins is they won't spend any money on engineering if they don't have to. Intel is more than happy to provide fully inegrated designs.

Besides, we go over this every couple of months on new rumors.

[cmspaz @ Aug 9th 2006 5:30PM]

Well, Dell has started using AMD CPUs in their servers. So it may only be a matter of time.

However, I do believe that if it does happen, it'll be confined to the lower-end machines.

When a Core Duo laptop out-performs a laptop with a faster X2 and better video card... it starts to make you wonder what happened to AMD...

[Alex @ Aug 9th 2006 6:23PM]

Oh boy, sounds fun. Shame Dell waited until Intel had the better processors to start using AMD chips.

[stingraze @ Aug 9th 2006 8:04PM]

At last... Big D.... You are in love with two top CPU makers....! AID ! lol