$2 Atmel parts
Well, when you stated them, I assume you meant more than one. Digi-key sells them in a qty of 1 for $2.47. If you need a few more than 1, All American Semiconductor can get you below $2 for a qty of 10. Digi-key can get you under $2 for a qty of 25 or so. But your right digi-key will charge you $5 if your order is under $25.
Avnet-marshall carries them for about $2.05 in low qty.
If your having trouble finding parts at good prices, I recommend using
www.freetradezone.com (used to be partminer), then do a price search, call the supplier and ask what kind of deal they can work for you.
I have used many pics in the past also. I only noticed the ATMELS when my friend, an All-american field apps engineer, helped me find a new part that would lower my power, increase my processing power, and reduce costs.
My latest design can be seen at
http://www.measurearea.com
I have a lot of other designs, but they were with different companies that mainly developed demostration boards to show off the latest silicon we were designing.
The only thing I never looked into with the pics is how easy it was to integrate SRAM to the micros. The ATMELS have built in SRAM controllers, but I don't recall seeing that on the PIC side. Most people don't need much SRAM, but our data collection projects do. Then again, if your using a $2 part, you probably don't have enough I/O to do SRAM.
Also, just a side note, you mentioned you did your own PCBs?
There is a company in Canada
www.boardman.cc
They usually have a Super-proto special for $70-80 which will get you a few PCB's made, with holes (hehe), double sided. The exchange rate to Canada is good, so I use them all the time for quick runs of prototypes.