Tony,
RE:"Then how do you explain PII being sold out? Maybe all those Dell and
Gateway commercials? PII, better margins, I like that."
-------------------
Several ideas come to mind.
Celeron A could have taken capacity from the P-II causing a shortage of P-IIs. Shortage of P-IIs appears in the lower Mhzs.
Demand is so good that CeleronAs and P-IIs are both sold out...
Intels segmentation strategy, creating the fasade that the Pentium II is a better chip than the CeleronA, is working. Even though we know different, Intel it seems has been successful in convincing the buying public that the Pentium II is the superior chip by differentiating the bus speed and clockspeed. This forces the boxmakers to incorporate the CeleronA into lesser equiped machines that make the computer seem slower...not because of the chip but because of the other components.
For instance, the consumer sees a jerky movie on a Celeron Unit vs a Pentium II and thinks it's the chip when it's really the video card. I won't even mention the iComp ratings Intel uses while failing to inform that the Pentium II system differs from the Celeron System...which is really the main difference in the scores...
This is what Intel wants...they want premium margins on the P-IIs and the CeleronA to compete against the K6-2s. (Interesting that the MXis and M-IIs for even less could be the real wild card here)
Commercials?, yes, they are very effective.
I do, however, agree with Maxwell about Dell. "If" the K7 is the chip we think it will be and AMD can execute, then it could become a BIG LIABILITY to be an all-Intel boxmaker because in the beginning, AMD is going to take care of current customers first. I believe that Gateway would already selling AMD boxes if they could get chips because they want to be able to get K7s when they come out. If DELL was smart they'd get their order in now for K6-3s so they will at least have a shot at some K7s when they come out...otherwise, the face of top tiers like Dell and Gateway could change drastically.
Jim
|
