HEXUS.beans :: DELL assaults the little guys

[Steve]

Whilst in Old Taipei back in June, HEXUS learnt a lot of secret stuff, and one of the more interesting beans we collected was that DELL had apparently been requesting its suppliers to submit, for technical evaluation, a broad range of mainboards supporting AMD processors.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=6469

[WLC-1989]

I really don't see why they need to do this at this time time; with Core 2 architecture being everyone's favourite for desktop (and soon, laptops), what is the point of breaking their relationship with Intel? I could understand a good few months back when AMD seemed to be king, but this seems a bad choice now.

[Stoo]

They're not breaking their relationship with intel, they're adding AMD based machines to the inventory.

All they've done is broaden the product range.

[kalniel]

Originally Posted by hexus

We'd also argue that Dell's competitors need to play on their potential strengths, these being dynamism and speed to market,

Dynamism, maybe. But you've got to be careful with speed to market when Dell often manage to start stockpiling parts before they're released in the mainstream.

Originally Posted by hexus

In our view those PC companies which have already committed to putting their customer care and technical support in full view of the buying public should be trusted the most.

Hexus would say that though, wouldn't they? Dell support forums have been online for ages - I don't know if you need to be a dell owner to access them, but I must admit I've been very impressed with Dells support - though that was based on experiences now a few years old.

In my opinion what the competitors need to do is offer differentiation - the one thing Dells can never be, by definition, is unique. Offer the customer the chance to feel different, to feel that the system is tailored to their use, not a generic average user x100,000. But I've still yet to see that done well. How cool would it be to actually have honest, clear advice on what you do.. and more importantly, what you don't need for a system to do what you want it to do?

edit: no you don't need to own a dell to view their forums:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/

[dave87]

Originally Posted by Stoo

They're not breaking their relationship with intel, they're adding AMD based machines to the inventory.

All they've done is broaden the product range.

Isn't that likely to damage their relationship with intel, resulting in higher prices for intel chips?

[kalniel]

If it does, then Intel will be found in breach of anti-competitive laws and will get sued by AMD. Sort of like a certain current lawsuit that's in the works...

[MrChris]

about time tbh i actually thought they should have done it a lot earlier but meh, i guess annoying intel is a bad idea

[DeathByDuke]

this is only happening cos of the lawsuit, if other countries hadn't started their own investigations against Intels alleged monopoly abuse, its possible Dell would stay Intel only. Intel have obviously cut off all the infringing 'deals' to avoid being caught red handed.

I bet that was the plan of AMD in the first place. Scare Intel into letting them get a bigger foothold in PC makes. And its working. And its benefiting all of us

[Rack]

about time someone scared Intel too - though I doubt they are shaking in their boots. It's just good to see some competition in that sector.

[young_one]

This will sound pretty negative but, I dont think this is good news for AMD.

It annoys intel and stimulates competition, great. Will it annoy intel to the point where they have no option but to destroy the new AMD/ATI partnership, I think so.

Whether you think the ATI merger was a good thing for AMD products or not isnt really relevent (I personally think it would have been a good thing but thats another thread) the financial position of AMD is considerably weaker now than it was three months ago. Intel knows that now is the time to go in for the kill as for the next twelve months AMD/ATI's restructuring will mean inefficiency for both AMD and ATI.

Intel is in a position now to ally itself with Nvidia, Serverworks, Broadcom and even VIA (whos biggest market is AMD chipsets and AMD bought ATI to help develop what?) in order to gain a advantage. Thanks to its massive (in comparison to AMD) financial reserves Intel can get these companies onboard (and I think will) to develop, quite frankly a kick-ass CPU, chipset and anything else they wish that will put AMD products into the shadows.

This might look good on the surface but everytime AMD gets a little victory like this its just like poking a giant - one day it will react and crush you, if intel are smart then they are about to awaken.

Just my .02

[sunnyg]

ye, there is a huge amd following that dell seem to think they are missing out on.

i agree