I don't think AMD is screwing their partners. What is the best purchase nowadays? Intel. Period. I believe Dell is the one being screwed over here, since they are having to push a product that has less appeal than the Core 2 Duo. Today it's more profitable to buy Intel than AMD. this may change, but that's how it stands today.
It's a risky move, probably better in the long run, but will definitly hurt them in the short run. AMD has been taking some big risks these last couple of weeks... we'll have to see how this all pans out.
Not only big, but HUGE!
they're losing space in the CPU war to Intel, since they haven't matched the Core 2 Duo yet.
When it comes to DX10, nVidia is alone in the spotlight. Although ATi does have a product lined up for DX10 (the N600), they haven't made much fuss about it, so that leaves most customers unaware that they will have an option when it comes to DX10 cards.
Don't think that most customers think like most people in this forums. We know about the N600 because we are inquisite when it comes to technology. Most people who are potential buyers for the DX10 cards when they are first released (early adopters) don't even know about the N600... all everyone is hearing and reading about is the 8800. That - as I mentioned - leaves nvidia alone in the competition. There is no expectation about ATI products as far as the average consumer is concerned.
Theres quite a few incorrect assumptions here:
Dell is not getting screwed. They can sell the AMD chips and make money, you cna easily sell less than optimal systems, customers were uninformed in the days of the P4 and they're jsut as uninformed now.
Nextly AMD has yet to lose share to Intel despite the Core2Duo's... the real victims are Transmeta and Via, both Intel and AMD gained market share (and year over year Intel is still down).
As far as DX10 goes your right most customers aren't like the forum members. They don't build their own PC and odds are they aren't willing to shell out the 500-600 bucks the OEM's are going to want for the DX10 cards initially. The only people who will pay the price for DX10 cards initially will be people who actually know what they're doing and a very small minority of people to whom money doesn't matter.
I'm not on AMD's side on this, but I just don't believe the average customer knows what they are buying (considering the questions I get at work from people buying PC's I know they don't know what they are buying). THrow in the ever "helpful" sales person and whatever a company needs to sell is what is going ot sell.