Intel Strategy Shuts Out PC Enthusiasts

[Damien Granz]

Yes, people will always love having pre-packaged computers, and love getting 'what you see is what you get' machines. Tablets and consoles prove this point. But even people that want a pre-packaged computers aren't happy with the inability to swap parts out down the line. At the risk of getting all libertarian on this, I don't think the market will play this out in Intel's favor. This has already been done. People didn't want it. If you want proof, look to Apple or Gateway.

Presuming any of this doom and gloom 'all your components will be soldered together forever and ever!' stuff is even true.

AMD's 20% will grow among those who care about controlling every part of their system, if Intel puts the squeeze on as described above. What percentage of the total market those people comprise is another question. I have to suspect it's small enough that Intel is willing to let them go in order to get a larger return on the business and casual consumer markets. If the tablet invasion has shown us anything, it's that people will buy whatever hardware happens to be inside a device, as long as it has a slick feature list and good marketing.

The problem here is that, the desires that drive the tablet market aren't necessarily the desires that drive the PC market. Because a lot of people who own PCs also own tablets. I know a lot of guys that wouldn't even DARE to not make their own machine, and still own tablets. Because their portable or casual gaming desires don't have the same demands as their 'hardcore' desires. It's a mistake to believe that because somebody might be willing to fire up Angry Birds while on the toilet they would be OK with that level of processing power for their main gaming rig, or be against gaming entirely.

Yes, there are some (many) who only ever play casual games. Yes, there are some who won't touch that stuff with a 20 foot poll. But there is plenty of overlap.

If Intel believes that there is not, then it's making a big mistake.

Hey, another "Doom and Gloom" prediction for PC Gamers.

You'd think after Origin, 30FPS Lock, and Windows 8, PC Gamers would learn that every time they declare something to be a dangerous to PC Gaming, they always end up looking like melodramatic lunatics. So Intel is going to solder the CPU to the motherboard now, eh? Explain to be how this is an issue? I don't know about you guys, but my processor is already locked to my motherboard with screws, the heat sinks, and the fan that I'm afraid to remove it. And why would I want to?

And my laptop (the computer I use for gaming) has most of it's parts made by AMD/ATI anyway.

A soldered cpu should make your PC shopping more in-depth. Ask youserlf the following questions:

Is it at least 2.4 GHz?
Does it have at least 4 cores?
If yes to both, you're fine for the next few years.

I'm not sure how 'I'm not personally comfortable opening up my machine' really relates to PC enthusiasts though.

I'm sure my grandmother isn't willing to open up 'My Computer' and look at the C drive at all and runs everything through the Start Menu or My Documents. Does that mean having a directory or control over where and how things are saved is a moot point too?

 

[TheEndlessGrey]

snip

The problem here is that, the desires that drive the tablet market aren't necessarily the desires that drive the PC market. Because a lot of people who own PCs also own tablets. I know a lot of guys that wouldn't even DARE to not make their own machine, and still own tablets. Because their portable or casual gaming desires don't have the same demands as their 'hardcore' desires. It's a mistake to believe that because somebody might be willing to fire up Angry Birds while on the toilet they would be OK with that level of processing power for their main gaming rig, or be against gaming entirely.

Oh I totally agree that's the flaw in the idea, and I myself am one of those guys who has never once bought a pre-built computer but still has a tablet. The conflicting needs and usage patterns is why I hope Microsoft is smart enough to leave PC Windows alone while they pursue the tablet market with WinRT, but if they can start to merge the spaces to squeeze a few percentage points of market share, why would Intel not try to do the same? We're seeing the old giants starting to lose their grip, and fear drives irrational decisions.

 

[grigjd3]

So Intel is going to give the PC market back to IBM?

 

[slacker2]

Semiaccurate.com makes shit up on a regular basis and hides behind their conveniently "anonymous sources". I'll believe it when I se it.

 

[Nielas]

I'm not sure how 'I'm not personally comfortable opening up my machine' really relates to PC enthusiasts though.

I'm sure my grandmother isn't willing to open up 'My Computer' and look at the C drive at all and runs everything through the Start Menu or My Documents. Does that mean having a directory or control over where and how things are saved is a moot point too?

There is a large range between 'I'm not personally comfortable opening up my machine' and swapping out CPU chips. I have no problem replacing RAM, video cards, hardrives, DVD drives, power sources and even a motherboard but it never really occurred to me that I would need to replace a CPU chip. When I do a computer upgrade I am guaranteed to replace my motherboard while I might keep a lot of the other components if they are compatible.

I always considered myself a 'PC enthusiast' but apparently I am only another one of the 'unwashed masses' now.

 

[M920CAIN]

I don't want a monopoly in favor of AMD or Intel... we need competition => better products, decent prices. Yes, I'm ignorant like that... I should know better.

 

[SinisterGehe]

So whats the point of this? I cant come up with any logical reason for this expect for laptops and such... Like is Intel just going to give up the market on workstations and servers?

 

[JarinArenos]

In other news, AMD stock jumped nearly 5% today...

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I'm probably going to upgrade very soon anyway, either to an Ivy Bridge i7 or more likely a top of the line Haswell CPU early next year. Considering my upgrades are about 4-5 years apart I won't have to worry about this nonsense till such a time as this silly approach has been seen to suck and rolled back.

Saying that, this is exactly the sort of thing companies like Dell and HP will be all for. A single board that contains everything except the RAM? They'll be all up in it.

 

[Korzack]

Mmh, Well that sucks, as another one who sticks with an old-fashioned tower PC because that does everything I want it to (Thus, ironically, negating the need to pick up a shiny new smart-phone or tablet that does... Well, everything my PC does, but far, Far worse), but can't blame them for following where the money is. The way fashions have gone have tried their damnedest to kill off the old tower PC for years anyway - the current console generation takes care of the gaming side, and for everything else, you've got the hyper-advanced Etch-a-sketch that's called a tablet or a smart-phone (Or E-readers which seem to quickly fill the half-way-house between them)
And also, hasn't "Build everything ourselves + then ship it" essentially been IBM's strategy since time immemorial? Amazed they haven't tried to cash in on this trend...

 

[Darkness665]

Interesting concept. However, I think Semi-accurate is mostly Semi in this case.

I would suspect that Intel is moving a market segment or creating a market segment for this case. Broadwell is the 14nm part they are talking about. It is well known that Intel is starting to bet big on SoC, System on a chip. These require being soldered on. The markets that SoCs inhabit do not normally have the space for sockets and massive heat sink attachments. But in under two years they will have room for a 2+GHz multi-core CPU (got that) with embedded memory controller (got that), GPU (got that) and the North Bridge (got that) and then what little else is required to get the unit functional. Intel wins, they sell virtually the entire silicon and by adding their own Infineon IP they now have a phone/tablet SoC that is kick ass solution for ultra-ultra laptops, tablets and their holy grail a smart phone. I seriously doubt the smart phone will win but a tablet and the others seem very likely.

Expect to hear from Intel, at some undisclosed time in the future, about the new super-ultra-tablet-notebook-laptop-premium market that just happens to use a 14nm part with 1/3 the power draw (or less) of the current 65w Ivy Bridge and it will idle under 1 watt. Then add SoC concept into the mix and then it might make more sense. As the tablet and smart phone market it taking a lot of extra computer functionality for people on the go or just in the other room then buying yet another PC is making less sense.

The absolute funniest solution to my way of thinking is would apple want this? You bet. Some of the Silicon Industry pundits have speculated that apple should have Intel fab their parts and just dump Samsung altogether for their core IP. This would be an ideal way to have that happen. And you heard it first, on the Escapist.

 

[Darkness665]

So Intel is going to give the PC market back to IBM?

IBM is out of that market and isn't never going back. No profit margins.

 

[Easton Dark]

I don't know about you guys, but my processor is already locked to my motherboard with screws, the heat sinks, and the fan that I'm afraid to remove it. And why would I want to?

Mine is held in place with a latch for zero force.

The fan has these twist-able pin things that pop into place.

Now... why would PC builders want less options? I agree this is by no means alarming, all it means is the business would go to AMD, but how would this be good?

 

[Denamic]

Competition.

If Intel is really going to solder all their chips into their own motherboards in the future, the competition will no doubt swoop in and take over that part of the market. If not, zero shits are given.

The future of PC gaming isn't threatened, let alone dead.

 

[Darkness665]

AMD's 20% will grow among those who care about controlling every part of their system, if Intel puts the squeeze on as described above. What percentage of the total market those people comprise is another question. I have to suspect it's small enough that Intel is willing to let them go in order to get a larger return on the business and casual consumer markets. If the tablet invasion has shown us anything, it's that people will buy whatever hardware happens to be inside a device, as long as it has a slick feature list and good marketing.

Except AMD is moving away from this market as well. They are moving into ARM and mobile. The current board and CEO are not silicon technology people. They want to be in a market that is expanding and the chip industry is watching the PC market be flat to shrinking while the mobile market is skyrocketing.

The AMD you knew and love doesn't exist anymore. They have no fabs, they are dependent on others developing processes to compete with Intel, the have bet most of their own PC efforts into the weakly received APU and now they are expanding into ARM server parts probably mixed with Opteron either on the same chip or tightly coupled. The only PC initiative they have exhibited recently has been to provide a middling copy of Intel's middling copy of apple's MacBook Air, the poorly received and over priced ultra-books. If people want to pay that amount of money for that level of hardware then they will by the Air. Not a copy that doesn't have the high level of integration that apple provides. Ooh, Windows 8 is just a natural for the market.

 

[viranimus]

Well if true... its not something I personally look forward to. I like having the freedom to select the type of mobo/processor combo I want to work with. All I can see this accomplishing is create less variety overall.

This also sort of guts the "spare build" arena where you can frankencomp old working components from broken systems together.

If either part goes out... your replacing both regardless if the other works or not.

Hypothetically it does make system building slightly more accessible and god knows ever build I ever did, the greatest fear was ALWAYS connecting the processor to the MOBO for the first time, but really to take it out of our hands? And for what? market dominance? Yeah, no thank you. I loathe AMD... but this will likely force me to look past that

 

[Russian_Assassin]

I guess it is time to part ways then. Thank you for offering me a service I was never even mindful of, Intel. I wonder how your competitor is doing...