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Gateway's defection and HP/Compaq merger could drive AMD fans underground.
In test after test, systems based on Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon chip continue to match or better the performance of comparable Intel Pentium 4 PCs. Yet Gateway this week became the latest vendor to announce it will stop building Athlon-based systems. If Athlon works so well, why is it getting harder to find such systems from mainstream vendors?
Blame the poor economy and struggling PC industry, says one analyst.
Desperate PC vendors are looking for ways to cut costs, says Rob Enderle, research fellow with Giga Information Group. As for Gateway, the vendor was simply eliminating one of its secondary parts vendors, Enderle says.
Intel continues to cut the prices of its Pentium 4 chips, and there's little chance of a buying surge so large the chip maker can't meet demand, he says. Economically, it probably makes more sense for Gateway to go all-Intel--even if it loses some potential Athlon systems sales.
Ironically, Gateway turned to AMD and the Athlon after publicly suggesting Intel failed to meet its supply demands in late 1999. That's not the case today.
"AMD is the secondary vendor in the market, and in a down market the secondary vendor gets hit hard," Enderle says. In fact, Gateway's decision likely had little...