Dell: AMD architecture 'too fragile'

CEO Michael Dell told ZDNet UK News during a London interview that AMD's Athlon processor family is not robust enough for Dell's more adventurous users, and could potentially undermine the "the integrity of our own brand."

Dell described customers that swap out factory-installed parts, such as sound or video cards, as the "lunatic fringe" of computer users. The practice is particularly taxing to the AMD arcitecture. "We found the AMD environment to be much more fragile ... than equivalent Intel systems," Dell said.

Dell said the problem with Athlon goes beyond the processor. "The chipset is just as important, and that needs to be addressed (by AMD)."

The interview appears online at

www.zdnn.com .