Tiny, Micron to use AMD chips

AMD has won over one of Britain's last Intel-only strongholds with OEM Tiny introducing Athlon and Duron processors to its line of PCs. Most manufacturers, aside from Intel crony Dell, now use processors from AMD as well as market leader Intel.

Tiny said last week it will launch AMD-based processors immediately. "We are pleased to introduce the AMD Duron processor into our product range because we believe that it offers the best combination of value and performance for our customers," said Neil Stevens, Tiny's marketing director, in a statement.

"Tiny were convinced by our superior products and pricing," said an AMD spokesman, adding that recent Intel gaffes might also have had something to do with Tiny's decision.

AMD also said the US' Micron has decided to use AMD chips.

Intel has suffered persistent shortages of its top-of-the-line Pentium processors since their introduction last year, and recently recalled 1.13GHz chips due to defects. The recall left AMD's Athlon as the fastest desktop PC processor around.

Intel is still by far the market leader in the consumer desktop space, however, and is uncontested in the enterprise desktop space. In October Intel will launch Pentium 4, which could regain the speed crown and give the company a much-needed PR boost.

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