Dell Buys Alienware

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Grim...
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Dell Buys Alienware

Post by Grim... »

Australian IT wrote:DELL has it agreed to buy gaming-computer maker Alienware, part of a push into the lucrative computer gaming market.
...
A Dell spokesman said the acquisition was financially immaterial to Dell...
http://australianit.news.com.au/article ... 5E,00.html

"Financially immaterial "
Awesome :)

So Dell will be shipping PC's with AMD chips?
Roja
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Re: Dell Buys Alienware

Post by Roja »

Grim... wrote:So Dell will be shipping PC's with AMD chips?
It depends on your definitions.

Dell owns a company that is. However, Dell will not be shipping any Dell-Branded items with AMD chips. :)
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Maugrim_The_Reaper
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Post by Maugrim_The_Reaper »

Is it just me or has the last year seen a significant creepage of AMD powered PC's into high street stores? I was surprised to walk into Dixons the other day and see over half their offerings were AMD based.

Anyways, Dell will never brand an AMD PC, they have too much invested in Intel. Hopefully there's no plans to dump AMD and really I doubt it given Alienware's long term market niche...
Roja
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Post by Roja »

Maugrim_The_Reaper wrote:Is it just me or has the last year seen a significant creepage of AMD powered PC's into high street stores? I was surprised to walk into Dixons the other day and see over half their offerings were AMD based.
When you make a better product, you get more customers.

AMD chips are giving better processing performance at practically every range, giving better heat dissipation on medium to high-end chips, and giving much better performance-to-price ratios.

Any one of those would be enough for most customers to say "And I'm not using them why?", with all three, its almost a no-brainer.

The only serious shortcoming that AMD continues to have is their mobile chips. Intel is beating their pants off in virtually every important category for mobiles. Considering that mobiles are now the majority of corporate purchases, AMD seriously needs to improve that situation.
Maugrim_The_Reaper wrote:Anyways, Dell will never brand an AMD PC, they have too much invested in Intel.
Never is a harsh and dangerous word. Micheal Dell is a very intelligent decision maker, and he consistently picks based on whats best for customers. For example, while Dell is extremely committed to Microsoft products, they do now sell a variety of machines for Linux customers. They saw a demand, and they took reasonable (if a bit conservative) steps to fill that demand.

They are likely doing the same with AMD. I could be wrong, mind you, but I suspect this is a first step for them.
Maugrim_The_Reaper wrote:Hopefully there's no plans to dump AMD and really I doubt it given Alienware's long term market niche...
There are no plans to dump either AMD or Intel. They want to run both companies the way they have been. They just want to improve both by having them both under one umbrella.

What people often forget, when looking at train-wrecks like AOL/TimeWarner, is that corporate synergies CAN be done right. For example, lets say that Alienware's shipping was directly done with Fedex. By using Dell's existing delivery contracts, they might be able to lower costs for shipping, AND improve the speed to delivery by 20% across the board.

That doesn't change the value of the system, and improves the product - while reducing costs. They may pass some of that onto customers (less cost = good), but they will pocket a substantial amount of it. Thats profit!

There is a whole list of things they can benefit from - Marketing, Shipping, order customization, online ordering, customer service - all that don't touch the box itself, but (could) improve the service and quality to the customer, while lowering costs. Its really a very wise move.

I suspect what we are seeing is a chance for Dell to experiment with some new ideas. The Alienware guys are really sharp, and have put together a first-class computer selling company. Put those bright ideas to work with the purchasing power of Dell, and you've got the potential for some solid improvements.

Plus, what better way to see how AMD compares than by selling them? They can track defects, customer satisfaction, speed, cost, and a million other factors that can help Dell decide whether to look more closely at AMD as an option.

In two years, I wouldn't be shocked to see Dell offer AMD as an option on some Dell branded machines, mostly due to buying Alienware.

I also wouldn't be shocked to see Alienware offer Intel as an option more often in the future.
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