AMD, ATI ready to supply Dell notebooks
 

ATI'S RS690 CHIPSET is finally entering distribution. So, Dell can expect to sell at least a million AMD-powered notebooks by the end of 2006. The supplier of majority of notebooks will be Quanta.

What makes the Radeon Xpress 1250 chipset so interesting is the fact that the integrated graphics achieves far more impressive performance than Intel's upcoming G965. To add insult to injury, in ATI's presentation there have been several remarks about RS690's graphics subsystem as an ideal companion to Microsoft's Windows Vista.

Dell works really hard to keep the flanks wide open for a massive Merom/Conroe assault by another OEM

customers could care less if badge has Intel or AMD logo, as long as Dell gives the box at attractive price, with warranty on the hardware, it will continue to sell as hot cookies.

don't underestimate the ignorance of IT managers who make the purchase decisions in large firms, most of the time they haven't even know what a kind of thing a "Conroe" or "Athlon" is.

in short, as usual, the HW enthusiast will buy what is best performance/price wise; the OEMs will continue regardless of best performance/price point.

Battery Life and Power Consumption

the first one is probably the number 1 priority for most Laptop buyers, the second one is very important as a cost factor and important to score in "social responsibility" rankings