[RETURN HOME]

Mario's Thoughts on Best Buy's Introduction of ‘Intel-only’ vpr Matrix PCs

By Mario Rodrigues

Date: Feburary 11, 2002

Best Buy has just launched their own PC brand. Unfortunately, they are Intel-only solutions. This is the second time in as many months that Best Buy has launched an Intel-only range of PCs. Again, consumers are offered second rate systems that are very poor in value.

Limited Choice - Intel-only Solutions

Two months after praising AMD’s Athlon XP at product launch, David Morrish, senior VP at Best Buy, launched Alienware gaming PCs that did not support processors from AMD. When this happened last December (December 27th), I wrote to VHJ. The argument was very clear: When AMD offers the best overall gaming platform, with substantial cost savings for the consumer, then why didn’t Best Buy offer this far better deal? Well, somebody at Best Buy must have read this because this week, Best Buy has had the wisdom to introduce Alienware PCs that gives their customers the choice of an AMD solution. Unfortunately, with the launch of their own brand vpr (value, performance, reliability) Matrix PCs, there is again no AMD solution. 

Fine Words Butter No Parsnips

David Morrish said at the launch of AMD's Athlon XP processor, "Best Buy is committed to helping our customers find the best solutions for their specific needs, PCs powered by the new AMD Athlon XP processor are a great addition to our product mix and provide more options for consumers looking for the right technology that can make their time more productive and more fun."

David Morrish’s deeds do not follow his rhetoric. Indeed, Best Buy’s customers will not find the "best solutions" or have "more options," instead, many will unknowingly pay hundreds of dollars more than they have to. This can not be seen as a best buy.

An age old adage from the front page of the inquirer comes to mind: "Fine words butter no parsnips." A saying that Best Buy and David Morrish have certainly earned. 

AMD’s Cost and Performance Advantage

Best Buy is offering vpr Matrix systems with a choice of Intel processors at 1.6, 1.8, and 2.0 GHz. All systems come with DDR memory. The table below shows AMD’s cost savings. The 2.2 GHz Northwood is shown for reference only. The motherboard and processor are the only items that will significantly differ in cost. From this, AMD’s cost saving can be calculated.

Table 1: AMD’s Cost Savings - Price Watch as of 02/06/02

Table 1 only tells half the story. AMD not only markets its processors to be less expensive than Intel’s, it also sells them with eXtreme Performance, hence XP. This means that their processors will greatly outperform the Intel model that it competes against. With this in mind, let’s normalize the performance and recalculate the cost savings.     

Table 2: AMD’s Performance Normalized Cost Saving - Price Watch as of 02/06/02

As can be seen, AMD’s performance normalized cost savings dramatically increases. This is the value that Best Buy should be selling to the consumer.   

Second Rate Systems

As stated earlier, Best Buy’s vpr stands for value, performance, and reliability. All AMD processors outperform Intel equivalents by a significant margin, so much so that AMD’s XP 2000+ will also outperform (also here and here) Intel’s 2.2 GHz Northwood. If Best Buy offered their customers a Matrix PC with an AMD processor, they could choose a system that offers far better performance with outstanding value, and which gives state of the art reliability. Instead, consumers are offered second rate systems that are very poor in value.

Final Thoughts

It’s not all doom and gloom for Best Buy. These vpr Matrix systems are all equipped with performance enhancing DDR memory, so they will out perform other systems that only support SDRAM. For an Intel PC, the extras provided makes these systems good value which will benefit Intel die-hards who wouldn’t want an AMD PC. On the other hand, Best Buy could have built an AMD system that would have offered comparable performance to the 2 GHz model at over $200 less - see table 2. That is the damning indictment that Best Buy has to face up to, which will result in many consumers unknowingly spending more money than they have to.

Even though there are four AMD Alienware PCs to choose from at Best Buy, the processor choice is limited to just the 1900+ model. A better choice can be had by going to Alienware direct.

Micron PC, with its Millennia PC product range, is a very good example of a forward thinking company that offers its major product range with either AMD or Intel solutions. It's marketing and product presentation is also even handed with the too little seen option, on AMD systems anyway, of being able to choose Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000 solutions. Over at Micron PC, you can have your cake and eat it.

When Best Buy's product portfolio begins to show real choice and real value, and that means equal support for AMD based products, they may then be able to claim that they truly do offer a best buy. In the mean time, this cannot be the case. Maybe in two months time we will see Best Buy repeat what they did with Alienware PCs, and offer vpr Matrix PCs with AMD solutions. I will be watching.

===================================

Pssst!  We've updated our Shopping Page.

===================================

[RETURN HOME]