Dell on Friday said it has stopped selling online most consumer PCs based on Advanced Micro Devices' processors, moving the product line out of the company's largest sales channel.

Dell will continue to sell AMD-based consumer PCs over the phone and through retailers. Dell last year moved aggressively into retail stores, such as Best Buy, Staples, and Wal-Mart. The company's PCs can be bought today in more than 10,000 stores worldwide.

Nevertheless, Dell sells the majority of its products through its popular Web site, where it will continue to offer AMD-based business desktops, notebooks, and servers. About 80% of Dell's sales are to businesses, government, and educational institutions.

Dell spokesman David Frink said the shift was just a "regular adjustment to how we provide our products to customers." Declining to provide details on the motivation behind the "adjustment," Frink said, "We're committed to AMD's product line as a long-term partner of ours, in order to provide continued choice to all our customers."

The other choice, in this case, is Intel, which has been cranking out low- to high-end dual-core and quad-core processors at a faster rate than AMD. Frink labeled as "speculative" suggestions that it may be difficult for people to order AMD PCs over the phone, if they are not listed on the Web site.

The move by Dell indicates the company is aiming its direct sales at people looking for a high-end, performance PC, such as its XPS entertainment computers, which is only offered with Intel processors, says analyst firm Technology Business Research. AMD's position in the consumer market remains that of a provider of processors that offer high value for a low-cost PC.

"We believe that AMD is well aware of this and will focus on repositioning itself as a provider of high performance processors for consumers in 2008," TBR analyst John Spooner said in an e-mailed commentary. The foundation of that repositioning is the company's new quad-core Phenom desktop processor, which is offered in performance-oriented PCs from Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. In addition, Dell is still offering AMD processors through its Alienware division, a maker of high-performance gaming machines.

TBR did not believe the shift would have a major impact on AMD in terms of unit shipments, nor did it believe Intel would benefit greatly. "Intel may absorb some additional Dell consumer direct sales," Spooner said. "However, TBR does not believe that Dell's shift will have a significant impact on Intel from a unit shipment perspective as Dell will continue to offer AMD chips across the remainder of its product segments."

Dell started selling AMD-based PCs in 2006, after years of selling only Intel-based machines. The company introduced AMD products at a time when the chipmaker was riding high on strong sales from a line of processors it introduced in 2003.

After watching AMD grab market share, Intel rallied and hit back hard with a major overhaul of its chip technology, as AMD stumbled in updating its products. Over the last year or so, Intel has regained the market share it lost.