Dell and Intel: Big Tech behaving badly

[Skud]

http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/23/tech...n_bin&hpt=Sbin

Yet again, the dirty dogs...why I still and always go AMD.

According to the SEC's complaint against Dell, Intel paid the computer maker rebates as part of a deal in which Dell agreed not use microchips manufactured by Intel's rival AMD. We're not talking small change: The payments totaled $4.3 billion between 2003 and 2006.

That's actually not what landed Dell in hot water. Instead, Dell was charged with defrauding its investors by pretending that those payments were operating income. The maneuver artificially inflated Dell's balance sheet and helped it beat Wall Street's earnings estimates for four years.

Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) has already been slapped with penalties for using its dominant market position to bully chip customers into exclusively buying its products. The European Union conducted its own Intel probe that culminated in a record $1.45 billion fine, levied in May 2009. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is also investigating Intel for antitrust violations.

In November, Intel inked an peace treaty with AMD (AMD, Fortune 500). The world's largest chipmaker paid its rival $1.25 billion and agreed to abide by "a set of business practice provisions." In return, AMD dropped all three of its pending lawsuits against Intel.

"[Intel] doesn't have an obligation to help us; they do have an obligation not to do things that are intended to hurt us," Dirk Meyer, AMD's chief executive, said when the settlement was announced.

[K PhaNTOM]

Dell is a company on its own. Whether it wanted to use AMD or it was paid not to, it is not hurting the consumer. It's not a monopoly or anything, therefore- intel and dell should be in the clear.

And, AMD still under preforms in comparison to INTEL. Maybe Dell just wanted to use the superior chips to those third rate chips.

[Caddys83]

Yay for AMD, (don't care for their crappy ati stuff) now where's my cut of the money. I'm about to buy either amd athlon or phenom for my next project.

[Skud]

Dell is a company on its own. Whether it wanted to use AMD or it was paid not to, it is not hurting the consumer. It's not a monopoly or anything, therefore- intel and dell should be in the clear.
.

Intel didn't pay out billions (of Euros, no less) already because of altruism...and this is yet another example.

And if one does a dollar for return evaluation on performance, are they really that much better? My CPU has no problems with any of the games out there: why pay 4 times as much?

[Duke{CLR}]

The key its to have both companies at war with each other so the consumer gets the benefit of lower products.

[K PhaNTOM]

Intel didn't pay out billions (of Euros, no less) already because of altruism...and this is yet another example.

And if one does a dollar for return evaluation on performance, are they really that much better? My CPU has no problems with any of the games out there: why pay 4 times as much?

There is average. And there is true power recognized by those who know. Look at the top PCs in 3Dmark benches.