Dell goes with AMD: it's official

Not exactly the best of places to drop some industry-rocking news, but as per Dell's quarterly earnings report, they're officially going with AMD Athlons in future Dimension desktops due out as early as next month -- even earlier than previously assumed. Guess there's not much more to say than that, except that the prices will probably be lower than Intel-equipped Dell boxes, power consumption will go down a bit for the AMD users used to the higher wattage, and clock-for-clock they may actually have faster boxes for doing their Excel sheets. More news specifically regarding the models as we get it -- and don't you be surprised if some Turion powered laptops are right around the corner, y'hear?

[Snake @ Aug 18th 2006 1:11AM]

Well, Its a move in the right direction.. but dells still suck..

[Javaflash @ Aug 18th 2006 2:57AM]

How many times are AMD & DELL going to milk this "long-overdue-brain-dead-business-common-sense" into their share prices? Get back to basic, fix the fundamentals, restructure workforces, overhaul services.

[Angie @ Aug 18th 2006 3:29AM]

Dell needs to concentrate on improving their tech support and reputation.

[adrian @ Aug 18th 2006 4:15AM]

I just hope that this will spell better competition between the others who already has AMD-based processors.

But of course, this will definately increase the war between AMD and Intel. :)

[StammesOpfer @ Aug 18th 2006 4:16AM]

I'm not sure who to root for any more it used to be clear cut
Loves:
AMD
nVidia

Hates:
Intel
Dell
oh and AOL

now AMD pick up ATI future partnership with nvidia unsure DELL uses AMD does this mean dell is good and i will be getting a crossfire rig or does this mean that for the first time in my life i will be building an intel system im confused what is happening...

Maybe its just too late for me to think about this stuff :shrug:

[Atanas Boev @ Aug 18th 2006 6:52AM]

Well, who remembers the exploding AMD processor movie from Tom's Hardware website? I guess Dell guys just love things that go boom ;)
(I know its a lame joke but I couldn't resist ;) )

[Who Cares @ Aug 18th 2006 7:40AM]

i wonder if Dell and the writer of this story has heard of the Intel Core 2 Duo, faster and more efficient than AMD.
If dell is planning on switching they sure picked a bad time to do it.

[T0E TAGG3R @ Aug 18th 2006 8:38AM]

@ StammesOpfer

You can't hate a company for ever (unless it's SONY j/k) technology changes and AMD will have a successful partnership especially since Intel is butting heads with Nvidia. Nvidia blocks their SLI technology so that you HAVE to buy their chipset to make it work, and intel needs their chipset to make conroe go fast.

[Intrepid @ Aug 18th 2006 8:41AM]

@ Who Cares
I bet they have... and soon AMD will release their Intel killer. It's the circle of life, as Elton would have us believe.

[peter @ Aug 18th 2006 8:44AM]

The timing is pretty bad. They stick with Intel throughout the whole P4 fiasco, when intel processors were clearly second fiddle.

Now intel decisively reclaims the performance/efficiency/dual core crown and Dell goes AMD.

Brilliant guys, just brilliant.

[Poopmaster @ Aug 18th 2006 8:57AM]

I love the short-term thinkers here. Don't you think that AMD has stuff in the pipes? Don't you think that things could (oh no, wait for it) change? Don't you think that Dell probably has seen long-range plans that you haven't? Don't you think that their vote of confidence in the company (for who knows how much $$$) counts a little bit more than your "ohmigoshAMD'snotontopthisminute" fanboy drooling? Whatever. Circle of life is the phrase of the hour. I'm sure Dell will make some $$ from this, AMD will roll out something faster, and the one-upsmanship of the CPU companies will continue unabated.

[Dan @ Aug 18th 2006 9:02AM]

I hate my right contact lense.

Anyways, yeah after reading this i'm confusing by Dell's actions. The basic Conroe has proven itself to kill the fastest AMD around. Why bother going with AMD? I just read not that long ago Intel cut the prices of the Conroe close to the price of the AMD. Whatever, I'm waiting for the Merom to arrive so I can buy the Dell m1210. 4mb cache here I come!

Though I could wait until the Kentsfield comeout. Quad processing would be the shit.

[Joey Bishop @ Aug 18th 2006 9:03AM]

Maybe this was all part of Dells big scheme. Wait until Intel catches up with AMD again, then announce that you will use AMD processors. When sales of these processors fall flat go back to an exclusive Intel-only deal and promise never to use AMD chips again.

(removes tinfoil hat)

[Ian Jardine @ Aug 18th 2006 9:08AM]

Sorry Ryan, but that's a pretty uninformed posting. As a few b4 me have pointed out. Are you an AMD fan perhaps?
Please try to stick to FACTS rather than spout on about how great everything AMD is Vs Intel. This may have been tur 6 months ago, but it certainly isn't true today.
DELL appear a very confused box maker these days IMHO.

[xzavier @ Aug 18th 2006 9:12AM]

Me thinks that Dell is getting ready for the coming Apple/Dell PC war! Since Apple does have a over-hype-up-reputation for almost all of there products + lots of peps will PAY for Apples over price products just so the can THINK that they are kewl but NEVER pay the same amount of money for a similar close PC=Dell with no over-hype-up-reputation status.

Me thinks that it is going to be overprice status PC/Apple vs. very cheap everyday affordable PC/Dell. Dell is getting ready for the long new PC/pricing/status war ahead!

[Mack Swift @ Aug 18th 2006 9:38AM]

This news definetly lends credence that Apple is getting the lion's share of Intel's newest and latest and greatest CPUs, and Dell has no choice but to move one whole line of PCs to AMD and yesterday it was announced that Dell will add more Opteron based servers to the lineup (maybe because the MacPro is getting a chunk of the Xeons off the fab?).

[Tracker @ Aug 18th 2006 9:41AM]

After years of rumored Dell-AMD love, they finally did it! First, there was the Opteron deal last May, then this desktop deal. I wonder when will Dell officially announce a Turion64 laptop?

[Din @ Aug 18th 2006 10:11AM]

Come on Dell, get moving with your $100 AMD laptop. Then, you'll get your mojo back.

[Will @ Aug 18th 2006 10:29AM]

I think you guys are missing the point here. AMD is cheaper. Plain and simple. Do you know how many people buy their computers off the back of the Parade magazine in the newspaper? Do you think those people care a lick about anything other than price? Sadly, there are a huge amount of ignorant people who only shop on price.

[Mike @ Aug 18th 2006 10:45AM]

@ xzavier

What war? Last time I checked Apple was having trouble keeping 2% of the market share of all home computers.

[ryantv @ Aug 18th 2006 11:00AM]

yet another reason to buy an Apple. New Intel processors are the best around. Lets leave the AMDs to the kiddies on strict budgets.

[Dan @ Aug 18th 2006 11:16AM]

That's balantly ignorant. Intel may have the upper hand for now, but it's only time before AMD does something big again. The point is the processor market is highly competitive.

Now I'm theorizing that Intel may buy Nvidia. Because currently intergrated graphics doesn't mean shit. This also to compete with AMD's ATI buyout.

Please all you Macbook kids, it's cute that you can run XP, but guess what? I'm running Mac OS 10.4.6 from my gateway desktop.

Here's XP

[IMG]http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/Blodgettx64/DSC00657.jpg[/IMG]

Here's Mac OS

[IMG]http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j215/Blodgettx64/DSC00665.jpg[/IMG]

Also realize Mac OS X is just a guissed up version of Linux. Apple just took Linux and "created" an operating system from it.

Guess what as well I have Intel Dual Core as well, and 2 gigs of ram and I can run Mac OS better than any mac, cept maybe mac pro desktop.

Let's not fool ourselves.

http://www.osx86project.org/ This is how you reverse Bootcamp.

[Dan @ Aug 18th 2006 11:21AM]

damnit, the images didn't show up. how do i upload the images?

[xzavier @ Aug 18th 2006 11:27AM]

@ Mike

True Mike, I have read they own somewhere between 2% - 5% however I did comment

"Dell is getting ready for the long new PC/pricing/status war ahead!"

I did state NEW and AHEAD... not CURRENT or YESTERDAY. Tons of peeps are more than happy to pay top dollar for an Apple PRODUCT/ANYTHING. I just think that Dell isn't going to sit back and take Apple Sh!t. Apple Sells lots of hype up products. Dell sells lot of affordable products. Within a few years Me thinks we will see another PC manufacturing war. Remember, War=PROFIT! or War=PEACE! Or something like that??? :D

[Rectange @ Aug 18th 2006 11:50AM]

Will,

Actually, Intel has been cheaper than AMD for a while, now. AMD did just cut prices again to match Intel after being overpriced for months. But the performance/price ratio definitely still goes to Intel at the moment. Intel is offering some dual core chips at around $100 retail right now.

[sputnik @ Aug 18th 2006 1:33PM]

It's all about the price to me. I want a great chip but at an affordable price.

Check out the article below from Toms Hardware:

Some AMD Athlon 64 X2s now 41% below Intel price/performance curve
http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/08/17/athlon64x2s_now_41_percent_below_intel_curve/

[willyjsimmons @ Aug 18th 2006 1:55PM]

@Sputnik

That 41% you quote is for a HYPOTHETICAL Intel CPU.

One that DOES NOT exist.

Nice try though. An 'A' for effort.

[Ryan @ Aug 18th 2006 10:10PM]

@xzavier

Stop saying "Me thinks." There are also their-they're and there. Learn them and use them properly. Quit being 12.

AMD wil kick some ass again and then intel will come up above them and then AMD will take over again and then intel will have a faster chip and so on. How do you think we have the processors we have today? If these companies just said 200 MHz is fast enough we would wait for 5 weeks for an e-mail. (don't do the math on that, I'm exaggerating.) This is the beauty f technology.

Sing it Chip...

"Yes, I love technology..."

[Dan @ Aug 18th 2006 11:48PM]

Yes, AMD will probably come back on top again, and then Intel, then AMD again, but I think Intel will hold this current lead for a few years at this point. I'll say until 2010 or later.

Apple haters:

Just cool your jets. Don't get all pissed off over it. The new Mac Pro is (FACT!) cheaper than a comparible Dell by a long shot. Don't try t argue. Just accept it.

Also, Dell may switch to AMD because, oh wait, IT'S CHEAPER! That's what Dell is (mostly) about. Cheap crap. They do have some higher end machines, but as I mentioned previously, they're no match for the new Mac Pro and it's price.

Again, don't get your undershorts in a bundle.