Dell to offer AMD based notebooks

Rumors have been circulating about Dell offering AMD chips in their consumer lines ever since Dell announced that they would use AMD chips in their four-way servers back in May. The first confirmation of these rumors has come. ZDNet Asia is reporting that a Dell executive, declining to be named, has told them that Dell has AMD notebook products in the works. He said it was “not a big deal” yet confirmed that consumer models sporting a 15.4” screen with AMD processors would be shipping by years end.

Has hell frozen over? Intel’s deals were not enough to keep AMD out forever I guess. Dell apparently says that market demand has forced them to offer AMD chips in their products. I am a bit puzzled with Dell’s decision to release notebook products first. AMD has never had the advantage on Intel in the notebook market. Intel has had quite a strong showing of chips lately, with the Core Duo for notebooks and Core 2 Duo on the desktop. I am surprised Dell is not holding off a little while longer. It would have made more sense to release AMD products when they were stomping Intel. In any case, this is a big win for AMD. Hopefully it is a big win for consumers too. We shall see.