Each day I ask the same question: "What’s the stock market look like today?" And each day I get one of two answers: either it’s not getting better or we have no idea. The former may be true but we know the latter is too. One of my colleagues recently reported that while at an industry meeting someone rightly said, "If you say you know where the market is headed, that actually tells people you have no idea!"

Given this uncertainty, what should we do?

Well, as bad as it is, and it’s pretty bad, it’s not time to hide under the bed. Forecasts for the TAM (total addressable market) for PCs are at about 5% down for this year – maybe more. But, to put it another way, people are still expected to buy 95% of the PCs they had planned to.

That means customers who do buy can likely look forward to good prices but they are also going to need to make smart decisions. So the question becomes: "Other than price, what constitutes a smart decision?"

For now, let’s take a look at the server business.

Leases and business cases being what they are, customers are still going to buy servers. However, this is also a great time to reduce costs by upgrading your systems when possible instead of installing new ones. AMD makes that easy with our common socket approach, which means there is no need for a nasty forklift upgrade. OK, so you don’t get DDR3 memory but, as I pointed out in a recent blog, this might not yet be time for expensive DDR3.

Oftentimes you have to ask your supplier for the upgrades, because they don’t print brochures about this.  It is a hidden treasure and often forgotten fact that many AMD Opteron™ processor-based servers have had some kind of processor upgrade, some even 2 or 3 generations.  There are a few people around these halls who are very proud of that, and spend lots of time on it to save you money.  So, as they say, "Carpe Diem!"

Given expense controls, power consumption is also a key factor. Well, one of the other nice things about AMD Opteron processor-based servers is that they do more work using less power – and the most current generation are AMD’s most energy-efficient ever. A good example would be the 2009 Technology of the Year Awards "Best Virtualization Server", the Dell PowerEdge R905.

And now, a few words about clients.

Say you are looking for a kick-ass gaming platform, or are an enthusiast without bottomless pockets (and whose pockets are bottomless these days?). You might consider buying a high-end solution that’s available at a mid-market price. To do that you would want to look for something powered by Dragon Platform technology featuring the AMD Phenom™ II processor. While you could build your own, first check out the new Dell Alienware XPS 625. It’s got the Black Edition (over-clockable) processors, ATI Crossfire™ graphics and our splendid AMD Fusion for Gaming Utility – so you can game like the best of them without having to know all the complexities. ¹

For laptop buyers today the best thing to do is make sure you are getting the right balance in your system. We don’t all need race cars – some of us like to enjoy the view. Better you get a nice graphics card and a chipset that will let you watch HD video (either on an HD laptop panel or on a connected HD external monitor) than be talked into a superfast machine that you don’t need and may be painful to look at. Yours can be light and sexy, and very useful, without being a half-use netbook. A good example would be the Laptop Magazine Best of CES , the HP Pavilion dv2.

I think these are great examples of what people will buy – when they are being smart about it.

1. AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by over-clocking, even when over-clocking is enabled via AMD software. In addition, the AMD Fusion for Gaming Utility may disable security / antivirus software, or adversely affect your system. Review accompanying documentation carefully before installing.

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

I am getting lots of question about the "AMD Fusion Render Cloud" project we introduced at CES and what exactly we are talking about.

As ever – it’s easier to show you than tell you. So as we say, see for yourself!

By the way, you may want to jump to 2mins 22 second in.

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

Just got back from my first CES. Despite dire "end of the world" forecasts for CES, it struck me as very busy. I spent some time on the floor – it’s fortunate you can’t buy the stuff or I would be in real trouble.

For AMD, four things of note:

1. We launched our new "Dragon"platform technology for desktop PCs. It’s wicked fast and the sexiest way you can get it today is in the new Dell Alienware XPS 625. I hope to get my hands on one soon – I am starting to come to grips with Crysis (although I have to admit without "God mode" it would be very challenging.)

2. Our Yukon platform for ultrathin notebooks helped the HP Pavilion dv2 win Laptop Magazine Best of CES. If you can lust after a laptop, I lust after this. This is the system I need to travel with. It’s not available just yet though. There must be some around; who do I need to buy lunch for?

3. We also announced ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4000 Series graphics processors – feature-rich on-the-go visual computing with the latest Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 games support, a home theatre-quality HD multimedia experience, and energy-efficient features for a longer battery life.

4. Finally, we announced plans to create the "AMD Fusion Render Cloud" – this needs more space than I can give it here but at a high level it’s designed to be a massive supercomputer designed to process and electronically distribute HD material through the cloud. Our friends at OTOY are working with us on this new kind of supercomputer.

I will cover each of these over the next few weeks in more depth. I even shot some video on my flip camera – though long delays at the Las Vegas airport took away from my weekend editing time (as you know if you followed my Twitter feeds). But I will post again soon.

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

There is an aspect to blogging that all bloggers have to get past. I am sure most writers get over this quickly; I must confess that until very recently, I found it a struggle. The problem is this: will anyone really give a "fetid dingo’s kidney" about what I write?

Well, I would like you all to know that I have gotten past this issue. Should you need proof, I hereby quote myself: as noted in a column late last year by CRN’s Damon Poeter, on predications for 2009, "this is the year where we will all finally agree: the speed of the processor is no longer the most significant factor in defining the experience of the user."

I bring this up because today we are demonstrating this point at two events here at CES.

First, my boss Dirk Meyer (AMD’s CEO) is giving a CES Industry Insider keynote at 11am PST at the Las Vegas Hilton (also the scene of my biggest ever craps win), and then this evening I’ll be hosting fellow bloggers at CntrStg at the Wynn.

At both events we will explain and demonstrate why the speed of the CPU alone is no longer enough to deliver the best experience to the end-user. Not that CPU speed is unimportant – we will show our new AMD Phenom™ II processor over-clocking to around 6-plus GHz at various events while at CES.¹ It is just that speed is now one of several crucial factors that – when taken together – yield superior end-user experiences.

Let me put it another way: I often ask people what their first consideration is when buying a new car. Very few say the engine (though many Germans and engineers do). For most people it depends on how they plan to use the car. Is it for taking the kids to school or for fun on the weekends? In this sense, people make a platform choice first. They then make a brand choice – perhaps American vs. foreign. And then at some point downstream in the decision-making process, they generally ask how powerful an engine they can afford.

PCs are pretty similar. Consumers ask themselves whether they need their PC to be mobile, or whether they need a notebook or a desktop. Only afterward do they consider the brand and price. And it is only later that they wonder how much processing power they can afford.

In 2009 I think consumers will ask a new question early on in the PC buying process: how important is the graphics experience? Do I need integrated or discrete graphics? How much of the ‘heavy lifting’ of the application can be done on the GPU?

In these tough economic times people are looking for the best deals – and graphics is becoming a bigger story. You mark my words!

1. AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by over-clocking, even when over-clocking is enabled via AMD software.

Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.