Comments on: Dell opts for AMD's Opteron

PC maker agrees to use Advanced Micro Devices' chips in multiprocessor servers by end of year.

[nap1805]

YES!!!!! THEY DID IT :)

WELL... What to say about it, except that it was long overdue! Good, finally some meaning out of it.

Let's have a fair market competition, K8L against whatever Intel is cooking!

Nap.

[Dachi]

The right move at the wrong time.

They were too good for AMD while they were on their way up and living the good life, now at the first sign of trouble and as people are starting to lose interest they embrace it.

They are not offering AMD becasue they want to but becasue they feel they have no other choice.

I wonder if this "me too" sentiment is going to extend to their AMD line of servers?

This was the right move at the wrong time.

[M A]

A ltitle late

A year ago I was shopping for a new server for my company, & I had wanted one with an AMD Opteron. Although Dell was trying to be competitive pricewise, their lack of any AMD Opteron servers left me with the decision to shop elsewhere. I suppose I can check them out again next time I need to shop for a server.

Bottom line, vote with your wallet!

[Yukimi Konomi]

amd should suddenly get 'constrained' on dell orders...

at least at the start, a nice gift for their buddies over at HP who actually sell their products without their arms twisted behind their backs...

[alqaqish]

Too Little... Too Late

The fact that it has taken Dell this long to offer AMD chips in its systems is absolutely gross neglegence on their part.

"Our customers expressed a desire for that technology," Rollins said, referring to Opteron.

Mr. Rollins your customers have been screaming for AMD chips for years! The fact that you are only offering the chips in servers and not desktops and laptops only demonstrates that Dell has lost touch with its customers and that you don't really care what you're customers are asking for.

By the way, maybe Mr. Rollins can tell us when Dells business model changed from taking care of customers to taking care of vendors?

[fred dunn]

Agree 100%, but what's more...

You couldn't have stated it better.
One more thing, Dell is only doing this to satisfy Wall Street Analysts that have been lambasting Dell for not offering AMD when they (Dell) are losing market share. The analysts have been changing their recommendations from BUY to just NEUTRAL or HOLD and Dell's stock value started declining.
Dell's planned niche use of Opteron may fool the Wall Street Analysts but it won't fool it's customer base.
As one other poster put it "Too Little, Too Late."

As far as trying to reign in costs Rollins said that they can do that by using higher quality components to reduce warranty costs. This has been a bone of contention with me for quite a while, why were you (Dell) using tier 2 parts to start with? they were saving 10 cents up front only to pay a dollar on the back side. Which also meant the consumer had a defective product for a period of time...NOT GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE! Customer service is not just answering the phones politely, it's building the best quality, most reliable system you can within the customers budget and not passing off cheap parts.
It's going to take a while for Dell to regain it's crown, if it ever does. Rollins said this is a 4-5 year plan, well if Dell continues on the path it has for the last two years they won't even be around then, it'll be called Lenovo-Dell.

[IndioITMan]

Dell is about to get better

I can't wait for the number one producer of PC's on the planet to start offering REAL gaming machines, with AMDx2 processors...and for those of you who said hades would freeze over before this ever happened: check your thermastats...it's suddenly getting cooler...

[Jackson Cracker]

What gives you that idea?

I still see no indication of AMD desktops from Dell or Apple.

[J_Satch]

Not any time soon.

If you can't wait, you're in a lot of trouble. Dell is only offering an "oh yeah, we have some amd stuff" attitude. You want AMD from Dell? Well just go and buy a 4 way Opteron server. They still don't seem to get it, where their desktops and gaming systems are concerned.

Oh and hell is still quite warm. :)

[fred dunn]

Have I got a bridge to sell you....

This is simply to satisfy the Wall Street Analysts that have been downgrading Dell's stock because they are losing market share to companies that have AMD offerings.
This is a token and that's all. Dell is still Intel's lapdog.

Don't hold your breath while you're waiting.
Beside that even if Dell does build a desktop with an AMD CPU the rest of the components will be second rate, low bid junk that will probably drag down the extra benefit of having the AMD CPU.

[bob blob]

Check yo'self!

Dell DOES offer real gaming machines with AMD processors...through Alienware. Dell bought the company back in March.

[scdecade]

Illuminata is pretty dim

>>>...said Gordon Haff, an analyst at Illuminata. "If you're going to introduce an alien product into your line, logically you might do it where your highest volume is."<<<

In this case logically not.

a) AMD couldn't supply Dell's 2 way server volume. Why disappoint customers with long waits?
b) AMD systems require far fewer parts. In the case of 4 way servers the advantage is about 4x. Here's where Dell will get the biggest margin boost.

There are other reason's it makes sense too.

[David Arbogast]

don't forget risk

Not to mention the risk... placing an "alien" part in a high-volume sales area presents risk to an already successful product line.

[ServedUp]

So what.

Dell has already been using there chips already in some of its
server products.

What makes this such a big deal? Their probably getting a better
buying deal from AMD than Intel would ever give them.

So what? Dell's saving money. Big Deal.

[ilover2]

So WHAT

you are forgetting that Dell will take business from HP unlike what most of these AMD enthusiasts think. How long would AMD keep that MP Dell business for? We will find out by the end of this year, or may be sooner!

[ServedUp]

So what?

Dell has already been using there chips already in some of its
server products.

What makes this such a big deal? Their probably getting a better
buying deal from AMD than Intel would ever give them.

So what? Dell's saving money. Big Deal.

[cameronjpu]

What are you talking about?

Dell has not been using AMD chips in any of it's servers, or desktops or laptops for that matter.

THAT is why it's such a big deal.

[bemenaker]

???

What?

[Reader11]

A monopoly is born

Great business desision computers are a commodity now anyway. The cheaper the better. This makes it much easier to decide for the average Joe which computer to buy.

[amdamdamd]

Not great committment

They arent using AMD on desktops, laptops...and gona use it only the quad processor servers....not really delighted...though its a beginning. The did understand the competition was what we heard from Michael and Kevin...with this move they have understood only partially.

[technewsjunkie]

Response to Apple's use of Intel?

Part of their consideration of the use of AMD I suspect it that this
could be a reaction to Apple's use of Intel chips and is a
differentiator in Dell's high end lineup.

Was Apple's use of Intel exclusive? I don't think so.

[jcannonb]

Response to Apple?

Actually, I read recently, that Apple has opted to put AMD Operton dual core chips in all of their future X86 based XSERV servers.

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=08476

They are not going to use Intel at all in their server line up. I would have bought an Apple in a second if they had used AMD 64 on their consumer and professional products. Instead I have my SUSE Linux 64-bit on my AMD64 laptop.

[bemenaker]

HA! Get real

Apple's sales are a drop in the bucket compared to Dell. Irrelevant.

Opterons are far more profitable to sell than Intel chips. The margins you make buy selling AMD systems is substantially higher than buy selling Intel, and also Opeterons far outperform Intel's.

RTFA, it clearly explains this, and this is very well known and understood.

[emehrkay]

Cnet's own AMD vs. Intel tests

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10442_7-6389077-1.html?tag=lnav

7-0 AMD

[ilover2]

The tied is about to turn

The 7-0 will be Intel's soon.. Have you been following the news?

[DAVIDINTEL]

Amd and Intel will eventually switch places!

Though a fan of Intel(hence my screen name), it is painfully obvious that when trying to compete with AMD they have failed miserably. They think because they can push more product out than AMD that they will stay in a dominant position. They came up with this strategy? some time ago and low and behold today we see the results, AMD because of a superior product line is spanking Intel. AMD has actually been outselling Intel for the past few months and that doesn't look to change anytime soon. Intel had a chance to squash AMD by building a superior product but instead decided to rest on its laurels. In their arrogance, Intel has not only lost market share but reputation as well. If you are looking for the fastest pc these days, you're not looking at Intel, you're looking at AMD. This, I'm afraid, is where the paths of the two companies will cross but in opposite directions. Intel will eventually lose its leadership role to AMD, and Intel will be the one trying to play catch up. The moral of this story is "you reap what you sow"!

[DAVIDINTEL]

My other posting under wrong talkback story

but hopefully is still interesting.

With reguards to Dell now using AMD, it's about time! I'd hate to think how much money and customers they lost in taking so long to make the switch.