Rumor: Dell and AMD thinking desktop?
Citigroup put out a research note Tuesday claiming that Dell and AMD are getting together on a desktop PC to be released in September, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Dell already sells AMD-based desktops--sort of--through its acquisition of Alienware earlier this year. Alienware operates separately from Dell as a wholly-owned subsidiary. But this would be the real thing, a Dell-branded AMD system, if the reports are correct.
The Dell-AMD rumors have always been a persistent thread in the tech industry, but it's a little different now. After years of speculation about Dell's exclusive relationship with Intel, AMD now proudly counts Dell as a customer of its Opteron server, which Dell plans to use in a four-processor server later this year.
Through all the years Dell stayed true to Intel, the PC maker frequently cited the problems it would face maintaining two separate product development and testing teams if it had an AMD-Intel lineup. That's one of the reasons why Dell plans to enter a relatively low-volume market first with its Opteron servers, and also why Citigroup isn't expecting AMD boxes to suddenly take over Dell's desktop lineup, according to reports.
However, the information superhighway is riddled with the wreckage of predictions made about Dell and AMD, so don't count on a Dell Athlon 64 system just yet.
