Hewlett-Packard will drive Advanced Micro Devices' Athlon XP processor to work this week. HP plans to use AMD's flagship chip in its new Compaq Evo D315, targeting the education, government and small-to-medium business market. The release of the new computer marks the first time that one of the "Big Three" PC makers--IBM, HP and Dell Computer--has adopted Athlon in a business desktop.

"AMD has been trying to get this kind of design for a long time," said Kevin Krewell, an analyst with The Microprocessor Report, an industry newsletter. "I can't say this opens the floodgates for AMD, but it's a big win at a major supplier in this marketplace." The Evo D315 is expected to sell for $650, before rebates. It will include an Athlon XP 2000+ processor, 128MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, a CD-ROM and no monitor. The machine also uses Nvidia's nForce chipset. HP initially plans to offer a $100 rebate on the D315. Athlon, introduced by AMD in August 1999, earned rave reviews and early acceptance in the consumer market. Despite outperforming some chips from rival Intel early in its career, the chip still found a lukewarm acceptance in the business market, especially in the United States. Overseas, Fujitsu-Siemens and NEC did adopt Athlon for business PCs, while several smaller manufacturers, such as Micron PC and Gateway, began to sell Athlon XP computers.