AMD's loss is your gain

AMD's recent pricelist for processors shows some great deals to be had on their midrange and upper end processors.  This has already translated into cheaper laptops and desktops carrying AMD processors.  Dell laptops configured with AMD's Turion X2 can run as much as $300 less than comparably equipped laptops with low-end Core 2 Duos in their educational stores.  While many would argue the advantages of the Core 2 Duo, particularly in its configurations with 4MB of cache, these are fairly meaningless to most mainstream users interested in productivity applications (i.e., most of the teachers with whom we work).

Extremetech.com points out that high-end desktop processors have also dropped significantly in price:

"AMD has eliminated the AMD FX-62 and FX-70 from its product portfolio, selling the AMD FX-74 and AMD FX-72 chips at $799 and $599, respectively, eliminating the $999 price tier...

...AMD's flagship Athlon 64 X2 line, meanwhile, received significant cuts. The price of the 6000+ was cut by 48 percent, while the 5600+, now priced at $188, was lowered by 42 percent."

Given the relatively moderate needs of most users in ed tech, these represent some outstanding values, whether you are looking at OEMs or rolling your own.