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.