Taiwanese notebook makers are reluctant to offer AMD Athlon 64-based machines under their own names, according to insider sources cited by DigiTimes, who claim that Asia-Pacific buyers prefer Intel-based notebooks.

AMD needs to address this issue, but the unwillingness of manufacturers to offer own-brand 64-bit notebooks is perhaps less of a problem than it sound at first.

For a start, the reluctant notebook makers do not, it seems, address demand for big-name brand/OEM notebooks based on AMD technology - and that's where most of the Athlon 64 notebook sales activity is taking place. Since most of those are sold in the West and Japan - both more advanced technology markets than the Greater China region the Taiwanese makers target with their own brands - you'd expect there to be far more interest in 64-bit processing here than there.

In the more mature markets, there is an emerging demand for Athlon 64-based notebooks; but even here it's early days for the platform. AMD only introduced low-power Mobile Athlon 64 CPUs - for machines other than desktop replacements - in May this year. ®

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