The Duron--last line of defense for AMD?

[Dputiger]

You know, I got to thinking about the next few months in the tech world yesterday and, truth is, things are pretty iffy.

DDR-RAM, AMD 760, and the upcoming Mustang/Palomino cores look pretty good--but on the other hand, AMD really needs the KM133 chipset to begin shipping in budget PC's.

On the other hand, Intel may finally be coming out of its year-long slump and offering serious challenge assuming the P-IV launches well and DDR chipsets begin to make appearances.

This is where the Duron comes in. While the Thunderbird is roughly matched by the Pentium III in terms of performance, the Celeron is smashed by the Duron in both performance and price. Once integrated chipsets are available for the Duron there'll be no reason to buy a Celeron based system. Even the new Celeron-T's will be unable to compete.

I think the Duron is AMD's final defense against a possible resurgent Intel. Even if Intel should dramatically bounce back, they will find the low-end market locked against them once the Duron establishes itself.

I'm not saying this WILL happen--but I think worst-case, AMD has built a processor designed to allow them to hold a significant chunk of the market.

[BFlurie]

AMD has done well against big, powerful, bloated Intel. But it's just a matter of time for AMD to get bigger & more bloated -- and run by managers that don't know squat about what they do. Then some other lean & mean entrepreneur will elbow in w/new & innovative products.

[Dputiger]

I think to a point, that's true--but it doesn't have to be. Big doesn't have to mean bloated.