andreas:
kapkan4u brought the piece of factual information to the thread a while back that the "unthinkable had already occurred" inasmuch as the Athy XP 1.6 GHz(i.e 1900+) was listed on price watch at $236 vs. the 1.6 GHz p4 listing at $161...I was astonished then, when I read kap's point that AMD now commands premium pricing at 1.6 GHz, and I remain astonished now reading it at Van's Hardware...Indeed, "the unthinkable has occurred"...(Perhaps that explains the recent heightened Intellabee swarming effort perhaps designed to mask AMD's major pricing inroads particularly in the face of the exorbitant expected launching price of the 2.2 GHz Northwood (i.e. a p4 is still a p4 and a "dud" is still a "dud"))
Equally astonishing, and perhaps more of a lead indicator, is the contention put forward in the Van's article that:
"Also, AMD's latest Athlon, the MP 1900+, is now selling on Price Watch even beyond AMD's 1k lot price (i.e. $236) which has never been the norm."
The rest of the article is full of forward looking goodies as well:
"Many have said that AMD were too reserved with their naming scheme and could have increased the model number rating by 100 with little complaint. I believe AMD held back for three reasons. First, to create more impact at product launch, second, to generate ongoing product demand, and third, to remain competitive with Intel's Northwood when launched.
There's no doubt that Athlon XP made a huge impact when it debuted and its success continues unabated. The XP launch has generated tremendous demand; demand which has resulted in AMD running out of two speed grades. These achievements could produce yet another record breaking quarter as AMD works to exceed 8 million processors sold. If this was all part of AMD's intended master plan, they turned the tables on Intel and beat them at their own marketing game [ed: the XP's unrivaled performance levels also help].
Everything looks rosy for AMD. Will this change when Northwood is launched? I think not. Sure, the extra 256KB of level 2 cache will help but it won't be enough to get Intel's bacon out of the fire. AMD already has two speed grades that outperform Intel's finest. Q1 should see the launch of XP's at 2000+ and 2200+ levels, which should leave Intel's latest and greatest eating dust [ed: and it remains to be seen if Intel can overcome severe production problems and ramp up the 0.13 micron lines upon which the Pentium 4 Northwood depends]. With an expected launch price of $562 for the 2.2GHz Northwood, I can't see too many people of intellect queuing up to buy. Who is really that daft to stump up that sort of money? I hope it's not you." |
