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Dell's new 15.4" notebooks to get ATI chipsets and graphics controllers

DailyTech reported a few days ago that representatives from both AMD and Dell have confirmed that Dell would begin shipping 15.4" notebooks in Q4 ’06 that will be powered by AMD Sempron and Turion 64 X2 processors. The move gives AMD even greater exposure from one of the largest computer manufacturers in the world. The latest news from DigiTimes states that those new notebooks will be paired up with ATI graphics controllers as well.

The fact that Dell would choose to pair mobile AMD processors with ATI chipsets and graphics controllers shouldn't come as a surprise to many -- there are already a number of AMD-based notebooks that use this combination. However, the news takes on an even greater significance now that AMD has acquired ATI. With AMD and ATI engineers working together as one to build powerful, high performance platforms with great stability for server, notebook and desktop platforms, it makes the products even more attractive to manufacturers.

In the mobile sector, the industry has always looked towards Intel's Centrino platform which pairs Intel processors with Intel motherboard chipsets and Intel-based wireless controllers. With AMD based mobile solutions, you might see an AMD processor backed by an ATI or NVIDIA motherboard chipset and a Broadcom or Marvell-based wireless adapter. While there is nothing wrong with this piecemeal approach, a single platform designed in house would be optimum. The acquisition of ATI affords AMD this opportunity and we expect to see great things as a result in the future.

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Oh Boy
By epsilonparadox on 8/11/2006 3:24:24 PM , Rating: 1
I wonder how NV will react to having their best partner being paired with a competitor's products being built by the number one shipping pc company. Im sure this was part of the deal w/ Dell and AMD.




RE: Oh Boy
By PT2006 on 8/11/2006 3:28:38 PM , Rating: 2
Oh don't worry, nvidia will keep pumping otu $1000 video cards just like their predecessor 3dfx. Their day is done though, its going to be a slugest between ATI/AMD and Intel between CPUs and chipsets now. Bad for people who need to have $1200 of video hardware, good for john q public though.


RE: Oh Boy
By Wolfpup on 8/11/2006 6:46:53 PM , Rating: 2
Huh? How is "there day done"? They still have the longest reputation for high-end parts out there. And while GPUs keep getting more expensive (though no consumer part is over $600), you keep getting more bang for the buck too. $300 keeps buying you more and more, even if the highest-end parts keep going up in price.


RE: Oh Boy
By swatX on 8/12/2006 3:59:14 AM , Rating: 2
churning out faster high performence hardware makes the company more reputable and more reputation means the name will be recommended by a person's mouth quite a lot of times. If Nvidia wants to increase its low-end,midrance card sales then it needs to be the king of the hill of high performence hardware at all times.


RE: Oh Boy
By mindless1 on 8/13/2006 11:15:44 AM , Rating: 2
Not at all, they do not need to be king of the hill to sell midrange or low end. You imply others can't comparison shop or read even simple benchmark graphs that we practically trip over on the web these days.


RE: Oh Boy
By swatX on 8/13/2006 12:09:26 PM , Rating: 2
by just being the king of the hill, the talk around nvidia increases. So for example if an average joe hear one of his friend talk about nvidia and he wants to choose some video card. what would he go with?


RE: Oh Boy
By dwalton on 8/11/2006 3:50:23 PM , Rating: 2
"I wonder how NV will react to having their best partner being paired with a competitor's products being built by the number one shipping pc company."

Why not, " I wonder how NV will react to having their best partner becoming a direct competitor and AMD CPU/GPU/chipset notebooks being built by the number one shipping pc company."

It seems like everyone views this as a partnership rather than a merger. Once the deal is finalized, ATI the company will be dead while the possibility that ATI the brand may still live on as an AMD product.

I think Nvidia in a indirect way is probably mad that ATI is gone. Nvidia has to be burning up on the inside that AMD, a company that they have worked with so closely, now competes with them in thier core business areas. ATI as an Nvidia competitor is a lot different than AMD as a Nvidia competitor.





The more the better
By beepandbop on 8/11/2006 4:59:46 PM , Rating: 2
nVidia's not going anywhere. This isn't that big guys. AMD's not even appearing to drop the ATI brand. If you like AMD and ATI, get excited around 2008 when they start really working in unison. Right now, there's not much to expect.
Although it will be interesting when the new AMD mobos with the ATI chipset come out. I'm expecting mass improvement in performance.
However, saying nVidia doesn't care/is mad is rather stretched.
And AMD will still have suport for nVidia chipsets. Either way AMD + ATI win, and those who like nVidia win as well. My only hope is that one doesnt go down because if one does...the competitor has no competition, and not only are the prices jacked up way high, but technology advancements and new hardware will be slow in coming to the market, as there will be no forcing from another company.
My hope is a new microprocessor company arises/new GPU company as well. Because the more competition...the better.


RE: The more the better
By dwalton on 8/11/2006 6:05:41 PM , Rating: 2
"However, saying nVidia doesn't care/is mad is rather stretched."

You must do not realize how petty people can be in the business world.

Its not "business as usual" when a close partner becomes a direct competitor. I highly doubt someone from Nvidia called and congraulated AMD on their new purchase.

Nvidia goes from competing against a similar sized, fabless and independent GPU/chipset manufacturer to competing against a much larger, fab owning, CPU/GPU/chipset manufacturer.

Nvidia hasn't had to worry about Intel in the discrete GPU sector. But now that AMD has entered that sector, if Intel didn't have future plan last month, it probably does now. If to only pressure AMD on all fronts such as it did with flash.




RE: The more the better
By FITCamaro on 8/12/2006 11:05:55 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
AMD's not even appearing to drop the ATI brand


Yes they are. The ATI brand is going away. That way AMD gets more exposure with their name on all of ATIs GPUs. Its not going to make a difference in what happens day to day though.


RE: Oh Boy
By Crusader on 8/11/2006 6:01:46 PM , Rating: 1
It wasnt a merger either.

It was a take-over/buyout. Speaking about using "ATI" product with AMD is pointless.

Its all pretty much AMD product now, as ATIs platforms are AMDs.

ATI is now a nameplate, just like how Chevrolet is to General Motors.

Chevrolet works to serve GM, its not a partnership.. or the buddy system.

ATI is dead. Sorry folks.


RE: Oh Boy
By dwalton on 8/11/2006 6:36:49 PM , Rating: 3
"The transaction is subject to ATI shareholder approval, Canadian court supervision of a Plan of Arrangement, and other regulatory approvals including merger notification filings in the United States, Canada and other jurisdictions, as well as customary closing conditions."

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoo...

"AMD & ATI Merger Contact Information
If you would like to contact a member of AMD's or ATI’s Investor Relations or Public Relations team regarding the AMD & ATI merger you may do so by e-mail or telephone:"

http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/about/amd-ati.html


RE: Oh Boy
By TomZ on 8/11/2006 7:23:25 PM , Rating: 2
My understanding is that this is an acquisition, not a merger. In other words, going forward, there will be a single company known as "AMD" (acquisition) instead of a newly-named company (merger). AMD is just being polite in calling this a merger, I think.

When one company takes over another and clearly established itself as the new owner, the purchase is called an acquisition. From a legal point of view, the target company ceases to exist, the buyer "swallows" the business and the buyer's stock continues to be traded.

In the pure sense of the term, a merger happens when two firms, often of about the same size, agree to go forward as a single new company rather than remain separately owned and operated. This kind of action is more precisely referred to as a "merger of equals." Both companies' stocks are surrendered and new company stock is issued in its place. For example, both Daimler-Benz and Chrysler ceased to exist when the two firms merged, and a new company, DaimlerChrysler, was created.

http://www.investopedia.com/university/mergers/mer...


RE: Oh Boy
By dwalton on 8/14/2006 1:28:42 AM , Rating: 2
Actually "acquistion" is a broader term while "merger" has a more specific meaning. AMD could of acquired ATI and fired all of its employees, threw all of ATI ip in a vault and resume solely as a cpu company. This would still be define as an "acquisition" but not as a "merger".

Look on google (define:merger)and you will see that the definitions will vary a bit but most will revolve around the concept of two companies combining into a larger one.


RE: Oh Boy
By 5150Joker on 8/11/2006 11:22:55 PM , Rating: 3
It should be worth noting that Crusader is an nVidiot troll.


RE: Oh Boy
By killerroach on 8/11/2006 4:01:45 PM , Rating: 2
Honestly, I don't see too many AMD-based laptops out there with nVidia graphics... although I've only really checked in the retail space, when I go into Best Buy or Circuit City, the Gateway or HP laptops they sell that have AMD processors all use ATI graphics, and have for quite some time. Not an overly scientific method, I know, but it does show something, and that is that AMD and nVidia are by no means conjoined at the hip when it comes to laptop platforms, even before the acquisition of ATI.

However, with the buyout, I'm sure ATI will be the graphics provider in virtually all AMD-based laptops simply due to the ability to create a program similar to a stable image program for laptops, which should help drive business sales... I know nVidia has been doing some AMD-based stable images as well, but only in the desktop space, last I checked.


I just wonder!
By hstewarth on 8/11/2006 10:47:40 PM , Rating: 2
I just wonder if this deal has anything with stupid law suit, maybe Dell made a deal with AMD to ship there stuff instead of testifing.

I think it is a bad idea for a cpu compnay to joined with gpu ( merger or takeover ) because it limits customer choice which in some ways reminds me of a monopoly.

I am curious if there is option to get NVidia graphics with these notebooks. I personally required NVidia graphics for the graphics applications that I used on.




RE: I just wonder!
By Hare on 8/12/2006 8:54:42 AM , Rating: 2
Of course nVidia will be an option. I beleive that a big reason for buying ATI was because of their chipset tech. Intel has their own chipsets and AMD doesn't. Now they do. I also believe they are trying to incorporate GPUs to CPUs in the future and Ati has a lot of brainpower as a GPU/Chipset company.

Most modern laptops come with a modular graphic slot so it's basically up to the manufacturer which card you stick in.


RE: I just wonder!
By Viditor on 8/12/2006 10:22:45 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
maybe Dell made a deal with AMD to ship there stuff instead of testifing

Why would Dell care about testifying?
quote:
I think it is a bad idea for a cpu compnay to joined with gpu ( merger or takeover ) because it limits customer choice which in some ways reminds me of a monopoly

Interesting...Intel is joined with the largest manufacturer of GPUs (which is Intel).
quote:
I personally required NVidia graphics for the graphics applications that I used on

What application requires Nvidia GPUs specifically?


RE: I just wonder!
By mlau on 8/13/2006 4:35:46 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
What application requires Nvidia GPUs specifically?

None really _require_ nvidia gpus, but nvidia is a big player
in the workstation graphics segment, where OpenGL and UNIX
are prevalent. ati sucks big time at OpenGL and UNIX
(ati's opengl icd is comparable to 3dfx's minigl for the
quake engine. It just implements the stuff necessary to play
_GAMES_. Also, ati seems more interested in creating hardware
for d3d instead of gl)


Nvidia demise?
By gzubeck on 8/11/2006 4:41:18 PM , Rating: 2
Claiming Nvidia's demise is a little premature...I would be worried if they cannot successfully get to 65nm and reduce the amount of power consumption a year from now...Nvidia has all this HD TV processing capabilities that could keep them in business for years...not to mention that numerous computer manufacturers will support some kind of competetion going forward as requiring a reliable second source of product...




RE: Nvidia demise?
By epsilonparadox on 8/11/2006 4:55:31 PM , Rating: 2
I'm not claiming NV's demise. Its logical to assume AMD will be pushing its newly acquired graphics/chipset division into a market where the parent company doesn't have a real foothold. But if this venture is successful, this process will also follow in the desktop arena and NV will feel the squeeze. Sure AMD will say the user has a choice on chipsets and such but if AMD could give bigger incentives to oem system builders for using their own chipsets/graphics, NV might end up being just a great graphics company instead of a great system component company.


Incorrect?
By Runiteshark on 8/11/2006 5:15:15 PM , Rating: 2
Shouldn't that be "AMD laptops to use AMD graphics"?


Lol, I kid I kid.




RE: Incorrect?
By TomZ on 8/11/2006 5:32:32 PM , Rating: 2
The "news" sounds just a little less newsworthy when you state it that way. :o)


Athlon X2 mobile?
By SixFour on 8/11/2006 8:25:28 PM , Rating: 2
"Dell would begin shipping 15.4" notebooks in Q4 ’06 that will be powered by AMD Sempron and Athlon 64 X2 processors". You mean Turion X2 right?




RE: Athlon X2 mobile?
By Jkm3141 on 8/13/2006 9:06:45 PM , Rating: 2
not nessessarily, Turion X2 uses a diffrent socket than Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon 64. It is quite possible to use desktop CPU's in larger laptops, my brothers HP laptop is an Athlon 64 3200+ with Radeon Xpress 200M chipset with intragraded graphics.


By Bull Dog on 8/11/2006 4:47:53 PM , Rating: 2
nVIDIA doesn't offer a low power mobile targeted chipset. At least I havn't been able to locate one. ATI otoh does.




By dkuone on 8/14/2006 11:42:49 PM , Rating: 2
"We can't expect users to use common sense. That would eliminate the need for all sorts of legislation, committees, oversight and lawyers." -- Christopher Jennings











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