Toshiba to use AMD chip in laptop PCs

Toshiba says it will buy microprocessors from AMD, ending its exclusive ties with Intel for it supply of chips.

The story "Toshiba to use AMD chip in laptop PCs" published May 28, 2007 at 10:35 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[rturner2]

Intel should...

If Intel can maintain it's lead over AMD in all areas of processors - then Intel should refuse to allow Toshiba to even buy any Intel processors unless they are exclusive...

now that would be interesting :-)

[mattumanu]

wouldn't work

AMD would just cut a deal to discount their processors for toshiba, which could lead to other PC makers seeking an exclusive with AMD. That's exactly what Intel doesn't want. Intel may be the market leader, but it's in their best interest to have at least some competition to drive development.

[mattumanu]

Very good news.

I've been using a computer with an AMD athlon for over 2 years now, and it's been amazing. I used to be intel only, but I couldn't pass up this model because it was, you guessed it, cheaper than an intel model with exactly the same specs.

Couldn't be happier.

AMD has a better arcitecture for quad core chips, whereas intels are actually just two dual cores strapped together. What kills me about intel is them assuming what I think. Read this quote from CEO Paul Otellini on what people think.

"The initial ones are multichip, but so what? You guys are misreading the market if you think people care what's in the package."

Um, dude... I care. If I buy a car, am I going to buy one with two 6 cylinder motors strapped together or am I going to buy one with a real 12 cylinder moter?

[clem22]

Let's evaluate this a bit...

First thing is that Otellini is not assuming what this particular person is thinking, but what the market is thinking. Nobody thinks they know what's in the mind of every single person out there. He's painting in generalities which given his position as CEO, is what he is supposed to do.

Second: You do realize that this analogy to car engines is exceptionally flawed. They didn't exactly just strap them together with duct tape. Many people have used the early Intel "quad-core" parts (Kentsfield/Clovertown) and they seem to work just fine. AMD's "better arcitecture" (sp.) seems great except, oh wait, I can't buy one right now. I'm also under the impression that I couldn't buy one 6 months ago when Intel released their part. It's not as if Intel doesn't have a native quad-core part of their own coming...
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" - I actually got that in a fortune cookie recently. Go figure. I just don't think it's fair to compare Barcelona (AMD quad-core) to an Intel part that will have been around for close to a year before AMD's part arrives in the flesh.

Oh and regarding this whole 2x 6 cylinder engine question posed. Exactly what this person wrote has indeed been done before. Once again, not exactly crudely "strapped together" as some would have you believe. It's called a Bentley Continental (you may have heard of this shabby engine strapping-together company) and I think there are probably any number of people out there who would love to have one.

Before anyone tries to flame me, the last 2 computers I have built and used were AMD powered. Why? They were clearly the best at the time. I built a Core 2 Duo machine recently and am using that primarily now. Why? Because it's the best available at this time. I am clearly not a "fanboy" of either company. I try to do what makes sense.

[Lindy01]

AMD makes

a good product and for a short period of time (2-3 years) they had better performing CPU's on the desktop and server (never on a notebook). Better performing in terms of performance and power/heat.

Now that is gone and they are lagging behind the massive Core 2 push on all fronts. Like the other poster stated you CAN buy the Intel Quad Core today....and the up-coming Intel Quad core will be based on .45nm.....AMD has just started and I mean just started moving to 65nm.

For notebooks Intel has dominated and will continue to do so. The worst thing about going with AMD is not their CPU's but the chipsets that support them. Intel chipsets are and for the most part been super stable. VIA, NVIDIA and SIS cant even compare. AMD did buy ATI and hopefully that will fill the AMD chipset void that Intel has dominated so well with.

I am a small business consultant and most of my clients want to go as cheap as they can?.but I always recommend?especially with notebook to spend the extra money and go with Intel??it just works and works very well.

Lastly I worry that AMD will be bought out or just fade away, which would be bad if we only had one major CPU maker......but AMD has really bad money problems with not much hope in sight.