AMD-based Dell computers cheap than Intel

What we didn't know at the time was how much of a value they would be, it turns out to be quite a lot. If Dell shoppers are as dum^h^h^h value conscious as they are portrayed to be, then AMD is in really good shape.

How good a deal are they? How about the cheapest AMD Dimension E521 (AMD) for less than half of the cheapest Core 2 Duo Squared The Revenge, far less. How about almost half of the cheapest PD? If you hunt long and hard you will eventually find the raw config pages, not the shiny bundle pages, and that is where the interesting stuff is.

Those pages are not flagged with bright orange 'More value with AMD' labels, but the message is not lost. On those shiny ones, you can get an AMD box for about $200 less than Intel. When you look at the raw config pages, AMD here and Intel here, you can find the true prices. The cheapest I could make an AMD based box was $279, that is a Sempr0n 3400+, lose the modem, monitor and speakers while dropping RAM to 512MB. Upping the CPU to an X2 3800+ brings the total to $359. Hardly a screamer, but quite a workable office machine even with the Sempr0n.