Dell to release AMD-powered sub-$500 lappies next month

We know that it's just been one big lovefest between Dell and AMD over the last few months. Most recently, we saw Dell's new AMD-powered desktops, which pack some of that Athlon 64 X2 dual-core power; however, we've just learned that Dell is going to be shipping AMD-based laptops during the end of this month, according to DigiTimes. There will be two models to cross the Pacific: first a 15.4-inch model, expected to sell for under $500, along with a forthcoming 17-inch model in early 2007. Lenovo, you guys got any sub-$500 laptops in the pipeline that you're ready to bust out?

[Via Laptoping]

[The E.R.N. @ Oct 25th 2006 8:28PM]

Awwww man, on Black Friday, expect $99 computers in Best Buy and Circuit City ads. Last year me and my Unc went to Best Buy at 3:00am and thought we were gonna be the first in line, mistaken, we were like 75th, and lost out on the $150 EMachine. Just getting it to have. LOL

[jon @ Oct 25th 2006 9:38PM]

Thank goodness. Emachines are complete crap.

[Paul @ Oct 25th 2006 8:33PM]

Every year a group of friends and I camp out in front of best buy, two years ago I got there at 1:00 am, and was 11th in line, last year I figured I would one up them and get there at 11:00 pm the day before, I was 25th in line, the first person in line had gotten there at 8:00 pm.

[John Doe @ Oct 25th 2006 8:50PM]

woo hoo more cheap crap from Dell! Seriously I get people asking me all the time "Is this normal?" when I show up to repair their low end Dell laptop. What am I expected to tell them? You buy cheap you get ****. There isn't any great mystery to it. Dell's low end wares are for crap. there "high" end stuff isn't much better but its at least into the OK range of things. System boards simply should not blow out at frequently as they do on Dell systems.

[tiuk @ Oct 25th 2006 9:13PM]

Yeah, Dell's cheapest notebooks are absolutely terrible in my experience (work has bought some to include with jobs).

[Greg @ Oct 25th 2006 9:17PM]

Last Dell laptop (about $1000 too) had a bad mobo. Father insisted on buying another dell. Hopefully this one will last. Possibly my next laptop will be apple if I can get the $

[Keaton @ Oct 25th 2006 10:12PM]

Ugh!!!....
Don't be dissing on Dell so much...
They may be bogged down with pointless crap software right from the start...
And the motherboards are a little flaky...
And they keep harrassing you to buy their "extended warranty"...
But...
They have the best price point in the market for most new technology... Period. (servers and super high end stuff doesn't count...)
And they are pretty good about getting you replacement parts when they break...
And you can order something from them and have it in your hands in like 3-5 days...
Compared to the way over 3 weeks it took me to get my notebook from Gateway...
(don't get me wrong I would buy a gateway over a dell any day)

So give Dell a little slack will ya? And these new AMD sub-$500 notebooks are going to rock compared to their current Intel sub-$500 notebooks. You will finnaly be able to get a sub-$500 lappy that has discrete graphics! (I don't believe AMD has an integrated graphics solution... correct me if I'm wrong) YAY! I believe thats what holds back Dell's current offerings. CPU's were never meant to do big time number crunching. The discrete graphics solution is going to rock! Major speed increases!!! yay!

http://www.soggycowdesigns.com

[John Doe @ Oct 26th 2006 2:32AM]

"And the motherboards are a little flaky..."

Umm dude I should invite you to our office on a Tuesday morning. Pizza boxes stacked to the ceiling. (Pizza boxes is my term for the box Dell ships there desktop mobos in.) Dell's mobo's ain't a little flaky. They are a lot 'o flaky. Don't even get me started on the 5150 series. Dell no longer sends out a tech anymore for them after the first repair attempt. They just send them to depo. I've replaced so many of those sysboards that I can now replace one of those boards in less then 20 minutes. Maybe even blind folded. (I'm not joking. after the 50th repair job the placement of the screws is in my head.)
Dells cheap stuff is for ****. Americans need to learn that just because you are getting something cheap doesn't mean you are getting some massive deal. The Walmart generation needs to wake the hell up. Pay a little more, get some quality, and stop outsourcing everything to India because you want it cheaper.

[nomadicalloy @ Oct 26th 2006 12:27AM]

buy a apple, they are really cheap, no problem with them, ha ha ha ha ha ha

[John Doe @ Oct 26th 2006 2:32AM]

Before some Mac fanboi responds let me just say my MBP has been in 4 times and still is a POS and I spent about 3 grand on it.

[Bard @ Oct 26th 2006 2:19AM]

Yeah...since when is $1200 to $2k for a low end to midrance laptop cheap??

For those of us who are NOT technophiles and can live 24/7 in financial harmony affording to buy every $600 gamming console that comes out and can drop $500 on a vid card every month just to be the "first", these sub $500 are a godsend.

I work in the arts, and for me a laptop might as well be a new Mercedes at many prices. The more tech that goes onto the market at a cheaper rate, the more the working class can benifit from "Advanced Technology" like the rest of the rich. 3G network-powered Videophones, 180Gig PMP's, and overpriced gamming consoles are great and all, but no one really cares until they themselves can actually afford to put one on the table without having to cut into the "food and rent" part of the income

[John Doe @ Oct 26th 2006 2:38AM]

Bard ,

That's all well and fine. I just don't want you to bitch at me when I or one of my fellow tech's shows up at your house to replace a motherboard twice in a 2 year period. I'm sick of people complaining about why is this crap happening to them.

You get what you pay for. Cheap laptops are "cheap" by their very nature. Save up an extra 4 months and get something that won't have the plastic covering the hinges crack after 2 months.
People think they are getting some fantastic deal when in actuality they are getting jacked. That and Dell's quality on their laptop line (be it Lat or Insp.) have gone down DRASTICLY over the last 3 years. there was a time when I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Latitude. (Never the insp.) Now? Not a chance in hell.

[Taylor @ Oct 26th 2006 2:52AM]

I thought those who worked in "the arts" used Macs.

Dell's sub-500 machines are barely suitable for video capturing etc. Not nearly enough horsepower.

[Idk @ Oct 26th 2006 2:52AM]

Apple : Horrible low function low-mid range pcs and notebooks at a very high price. I never understood why thier notebooks have X1600's and thier desktops X1900's though... why put a gaming GPU in a pc that cant run any good games, other than buggy O-GL ports. If apples are really only for video editing and media etc, why not put in an all-in-wonder X1900 instead

Dell : I've had too many issues to count with them, and I've never owned a dell pc. I repair other people's pcs, but every issue with a dell has been a hardware problem, why get a sub $500 AMD notebook from them when you can get a sub $400 notebook from toshiba with DDR2 ram and an AMD cpu and probebly less problems.

Best Tech support i've had was from HP, after I called them I had fed-ex arrive the next morning to pick my laptop up, it was returned at the exact time 2 days later with a new mobo and keyboard.

[Aaron @ Oct 26th 2006 3:44AM]

OK, this wouldn't work on the laptop side of things, but do what my girlfriend and I did for her computer: buy a cheap Dell, then spend a few extra bucks somewhere else on a new case and mobo. Format the hard drive right when you get it, thereby eliminating the crap that Dells ship with and allowing you to choose your file system. You're good to go, and you still didn't spend much money. Just upgrade it over time, if you need to. Doing things this way usually ends up being cheaper than starting from scratch, since the big things like the hard drive and monitor are included. Dells may not be the best right out of the box, but they can still save you money.

[vrf @ Oct 26th 2006 4:59AM]

Taylor, I generally agree that you can't do a lot of art and graphics on a lower-end laptop like these Dells.. whether video/music editing or animation and digital fine art. But low-end machines and slightly older software can really pack a powerful punch. PhotoShop 7 with Win2k instead of CS2 on WinXP will really speed things up. You don't need all of the newer functions to create good art. (Although rendering or ultra-high res work for digital fine art prints will probably slow you down a bit.) Anyhow, there is lots of older software that can run on less-than cutting-edge hardware--without much loss in function. It's the artist that matters, in the end, rather than the tool.

I say: bring on the low-end laptop. I have plenty of older software that will make it a relative powerhouse.

http://www.vancefry.com

[Wonderboy @ Oct 26th 2006 9:10AM]

If you don't want a cheap laptop, don't get a cheap laptop. My heck there are a lot of whiners on Engadget comments. It's not like Dell discontinued all other lines, they are just making a cheap laptop. It's not for everybody, but neither are the $3k high-end laptops... they're great, but not everyone can afford that.

This is perfect for my situation... I have a laptop and my wife has a laptop, so we don't need another, but my sister graduates in December and I want to get her a laptop as a gift. The cheaper the better, all she needs is a word processor to type up her college papers.

[Brendan @ Oct 26th 2006 11:46AM]

the Dell lappy that I'm using now has had 4 dead motherboards since I got it in June '04. Only one was my fault (water).

it's currently plugged into a 19" monitor cause the screen on it crapped out. I think I've been through two power supplies as well. The system battery is shot, it won't keep the time when it gets shut down. Speaking of which, you never know if/when it's going to come back on.

So there's just one of many reasons why Dell's growth is nonexistent and their market share will fall. AMD or no, caveat emptor.