News of the demise of the custom systems market is premature. In fact, in spite of a narrowing gap between branded systems and custom system pricing, the market for custom systems appears ready for a renaissance led by notebooks.
Thirty-four percent of the VARs surveyed said they resell custom notebooks and another 11 percent said they build them. Those numbers are approaching the historical custom systems market share of desktops and servers sold and built by solution providers. Over half the VARs say they continue to build and sell custom desktops and servers.
What appears to be driving demand for custom systems is new processor technology, including Intel's new Core i7 chips and AMD's recently launched Shanghai chips. Intel's new Nehalem microarchitecture includes a "native" core architecture that features independent power supplies for better power management and less energy leakage.
The looming battle between AMD and Intel for the hearts and minds of systems builders will come down to performance, and which processors emerge as the leader in power consumption, solution providers say.
