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Dell to deliver sub $500 notebooks just in time for the holiday season

Dell is looking to push more notebooks out the door just in time for the holiday season by enticing customers with low price tags. To achieve those low prices, Dell is looking to its latest partner: AMD. The first batch of 500,000 notebooks is expected to hit the market with the next few weeks.

The first models offered will be budget 15.4" notebooks which will be manufactured by Quanta Computer. The notebooks will range from $449 to $499 making them an attractive buy for holiday shoppers. While we've seen some sub $500 notebooks advertised in recent months, almost all of them achieved the low price tag by tacking on $150 - $200 mail-in rebates.

Early next year, Dell will also offer 17" AMD-based notebooks which will be produced by Compal Electronics. Dell is expected to use as many as 20 million AMD processors from Q4 2006 through Q4 2007. Of that 20 million, 20% will notebook processors.

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Get the idea
By crystal clear on 10/26/2006 12:27:53 PM , Rating: 2
Think Equity analyst Eric Ross warned today that channel checks in Asia show Dell's PC sales "declining rapidly below expectations". Dell will likely struggle to correct the sales slip before the end of its third quarter, according to the analyst, and now faces a "near-impossible" situation. The hardware maker may well need to issue yet another mid-quarter revenue warning - a process that's becoming a tradition in Round Rock.

Dell must continue to lower prices and eat into profits if it hopes to slow market share losses. "Competitors are driving gains based on price, and the Asian market is largely a price-driven market," Ross said.

Making matters worse, Dell could see Intel chop its co-marketing budget from hundreds of millions of dollars down to nothing, according to the analyst.
I

In the meantime, exploding laptops and ongoing customer support horror stories undermine Dell's "we're better now" pitch. ®



http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/20/dell_q3_ru...

This article can give us an indication whats behind the DELL
statergy.
Things dont appear so good behind those announcements.






RE: Get the idea
By TomZ on 10/26/2006 1:13:53 PM , Rating: 2
Good point. All I would add is that Dell is making a mistake IMO by chasing laptop consumer prices sub-$500, and should instead focus on producing robust machines for business users who can tolerate a slightly higher cost and margins for Dell. Sales volume is good, but profitability also important.

In the long term, they will not win a price war against cheaper brands, and they will dilute the quality image of their brand in the meantime, which is an inevitable byproduct of selling cheaper products.


RE: Get the idea
By crystal clear on 10/26/2006 1:42:12 PM , Rating: 2
Hi there pleasure bloging with you-

Hey you should read this-just for you -not related to Dell article.

ATI promotions of Intel CPUs ?????

http://ati.amd.com/technology/crossfire/promotions...

Will respond to your post soon-got some urgent calls to make.


RE: Get the idea
By TomZ on 10/26/2006 2:35:37 PM , Rating: 2
It is slightly odd, but I would assume this promo was started before the merger. I doubt they would start a new promo like this now, considering.


RE: Get the idea
By Clauzii on 10/26/2006 11:27:08 PM , Rating: 2
Hi :)

I think it's odd that the basic layout of the original ATI-site is used here at AMDs site in Green colors and AMD-logo as header. I mean, if they were to still be considered as two entities in one company, I'd think ATI should stick to their colors and AMD to theirs - or maybe I'm just tired and worries too much ;)


RE: Get the idea
By Clauzii on 10/26/2006 11:30:25 PM , Rating: 2
Ups! Sorry, the link You posted IS reddish, but at the ati.amd.com page it's like I described it - Green design for ATI :)

(Or is AMD comming up with some red stuff to show off at ATIs site ie. physix CPU of some kind :O)


RE: Get the idea
By vanka on 10/26/2006 2:15:21 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
In the long term, they will not win a price war against cheaper brands, and they will dilute the quality image of their brand in the meantime, which is an inevitable byproduct of selling cheaper products.


Too late. Dell is already known as the seller of extremely cheap computers, at least on the desktop side. When ever people ask me about a ultra cheap PC, I point them to Dell's website where they can get a complete PC with mouse/keyboard/monitor for $350~$400. Sure it's crap and doesn't do much, but for those who only need to browse the net and do word processing it's fine.


RE: Get the idea
By crystal clear on 10/26/2006 3:13:11 PM , Rating: 2
You are right in your analysis but Dell has a problem from within namely-
"ongoing customer support horror stories "

CUSTOMER SUPPORT is the key to success,let it be the business sector or ordinary buyers.
They have to realize like you say "they will dilute the quality image of their brand " if their customer support division does live up to user expectation.



RE: Get the idea
By TomZ on 10/26/2006 8:16:19 PM , Rating: 2
Yea, that is sad. I suppose the root cause is an attempt at cost cutting at their call centers without sufficient training. Seen that a million times.


Tablet notebook :(
By Xajel on 10/26/2006 9:58:06 AM , Rating: 2
I hope DELL will make less than $1000 Turion X2 Tablet PC
even for $1300.. I just hope to have one !!
15.4 screen will be good, and 17 will be hard to make for 1300 !!
Tablet notebook always expensive and never found a one with AMD CPU from good known maker !!




RE: Tablet notebook :(
By AstroCreep on 10/26/2006 11:07:35 AM , Rating: 2
Why does your tablet need to be AMD-based?
Not trying to flame or anything, I'm just curious.


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By kamel5547 on 10/26/2006 11:40:31 AM , Rating: 2
I'm also wondering the same thing since performance wise AMD has yet to have a better offering than Intel in the notebook segment. The Turions were a good first offering but not as good as the Pentium M, and the x2's are not as good as te Core Duo/Core 2 Duo in that space. Personally the only reason I could see is a lower price as AMD is competing on that basis at the moment.


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By TomZ on 10/26/2006 2:36:57 PM , Rating: 2
Some people shop by brand, rather than performance, value, etc. Simple as that.


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By Viditor on 10/26/2006 9:00:03 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
and the x2's are not as good as te Core Duo/Core 2 Duo in that space

Actually, the Turion X2's are almost exactly equal to the Core Duos...
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=285...

"There are almost certainly areas where Turion X2 would show a performance improvement over Intel Core Duo. If you're trying to decide between a Core Duo laptop and a Turion X2 laptop, overall we would say it's pretty close to a tie, so you should focus on features and other extras that might be important"


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By encryptkeeper on 10/26/2006 5:25:24 PM , Rating: 1
Why does it have to be AMD? Because alot of AMD users HATE Intel with a passion. I'm one of them.


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By TomZ on 10/26/2006 8:14:39 PM , Rating: 3
"Hate Intel with a passion"? What, did you grow up as an orphan because your parents were killed by a Pentium processor, or what? It's just a processor - get a life.


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By margon on 10/27/2006 1:50:21 PM , Rating: 2
lazy slacker got fired by intel...


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By Xajel on 10/27/2006 11:37:58 AM , Rating: 2
And Why it has to be Intel ??

I love AMD, I hate Intel for my own reasons...
I don't care if some body told me I'm insane, Core2 Duo is better than Turion X2.. beacuse if I heard from every one, I'll not take any thing in my life... I have my mind to decide which one is the best for me, I know C2D is better in performance, but the Turion X2 will sure do what I need to do from it, all my software will work great on it, I don't need to loose my reputation of my self just beacuse I want 10 - 15% more performance, my work will be done in both the same, but in AMD situation I'll be glade to work and finish my work on it because I'm using what I want to use not because what other's want to see !!

forgive me for every thing that might just make you think that hurt you :)


RE: Tablet notebook :(
By AstroCreep on 10/26/06, Rating: -1
Xpress 1100 IGP?
By therealnickdanger on 10/26/2006 10:18:51 AM , Rating: 2
Just curious what we can expect for IGP. I can't imagine there would be an X1400 option for any of these - naturally not at $450 - but maybe a little extra... At least we can rest assured that it won't be GMA9xx!




RE: Xpress 1100 IGP?
By DigitalFreak on 10/26/2006 11:08:19 AM , Rating: 2
I would guess that these would be based on either the ATI 1100 or Nvidia 6150 IGP.


RE: Xpress 1100 IGP?
By othercents on 10/26/2006 12:12:03 PM , Rating: 2
I would guess to say Dell will follow HP and come out with a Nvidia 6150 IGP. Right now HP is close to being a sub $500 laptop and would be if they reduced the ram to 256mb. These laptops start with Mobile Sempron processor and the Turion processors will cost an extra $100.

It all becomes a pricing game for these big companies. Strip the computer down with only 256mb ram and hope no one notices. Put a older model hard drive into it and use cheap screen components. You will get what you payed for.

Other


RE: Xpress 1100 IGP?
By KayKay on 10/26/2006 11:55:52 AM , Rating: 2
yes! absolutely no intel GMA for me!


What's the big deal?
By Phynaz on 10/26/2006 11:18:51 AM , Rating: 5
Dell has been selling $499 laptops for a year.




RE: What's the big deal?
By DallasTexas on 10/26/2006 3:55:13 PM , Rating: 2
Good point. The question I have is how much memory comes with it. If it's less than 1GB, there's nothing new here.


Realities of the market
By crystal clear on 10/26/2006 11:22:02 AM , Rating: 1
"Due to shortages in batteries, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, liquid-crystal display panels and central processing units, Compal's president and chief executive officer Ray Chen (???) told investors at the time that the company could not fulfill its clients' orders in the fourth quarter."

Also-
Dell's 15.4-inch notebook is being manufactured by Taiwan-based Quanta Computer while the company's 17-inch model will by produced by Compal Electronics, the Taiwan notebook makers pointed out.

Plus-
Short supply of AMD CPUs.

All this industry news put together ,it gives a gloomy outlook for this quater.
I wonder if DELL can meet its targets/expectations .

Announcements is one thing ,realities of the market conditions is another.Demand & Supply forces at work will
ultimately decide the outcome.




RE: Realities of the market
By mino on 10/26/2006 8:27:04 PM , Rating: 2
Rest assured DELL will get as many AMD CPU's as it need.

Bad for us, the channel, but a fact.


RE: Realities of the market
By livinloud on 10/30/2006 1:17:26 AM , Rating: 2
The channel is always suffering from BIG OEM. But "normal" people don't know that. AMD and Intel are not helping US to,look like they leave us alone with low supply and high cost.


By Chris Peredun on 10/26/2006 9:27:48 AM , Rating: 2
I hope they're going to make a low-end lightweight (12"-14") model as well, not just the 15.4" and 17" sizes.




By Zirconium on 10/26/2006 9:35:17 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, that's a market that for some reason doesn't get too many "cheap" notebooks. I'm happy with my 700m which I got for about $800, but I think many people would be interested in a inexpensive, small, light and portable notebook.


500 dollar notebook
By encryptkeeper on 10/26/2006 5:19:11 PM , Rating: 2
Give me a break. You pay 500 dollars for a notebook and you GET a 500 dollar notebook. What is a 500 dollar notebook? An acer with a Celeron or Sempron mobile processor, combo drive, 4 cell battery, 256 memory, and maybe a 40 GB hard drive. No thanks, there's a point where it's just too much money even when you buy the lowest of the low. If you want a laptop that won't piss you off, spend some money. Spend at least 900 or even 1000 bucks. Trust me, with laptops, if you buy a cheapo you'll regret it.




RE: 500 dollar notebook
By Furen on 10/27/2006 12:03:48 PM , Rating: 2
Err, the only thing that is really "wrong" with what you mentioned is the 256MB memory. If you want a dual-core CPU then of course you shouldn't buy a cheap laptop, but a 40GB HD is way more than enough for most people (even for me, and I consider myself a power user). The 4 cell battery, of course, is a bit limiting but not everyone needs hours and hours of battery time. Heck, I'd take a plain DVD-rom on a Laptop if it made it cheaper, it's not like I'm itching to burn DVDs while on the move. The one thing that I would not want, however, is poor build quality. As long as the laptop was sturdy enough then it's all good.


One thing I noticed:
By Clauzii on 10/27/2006 1:01:36 AM , Rating: 2
The Website is running much faster now :O

AMD servers instead of XEONs??




Eureeka
By encryptkeeper on 10/26/2006 11:30:41 AM , Rating: 1
So this is why there aren't any damn dual core Turions in the distribution channel.




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