Run VM's? Number crunching? Any form of HPC? Come now, each tool has its place. A hammer won't suffice if you need to bulldoze a building.
Nice way to be intentionally vague there. "Real work". What is real work. What is your real work, what does someone else consider real work? What does a student consider "real work"? "Real work" is a completely vague and meaningless term in the grand scheme of things, and like I said some tasks are better suited for desktop now. But convertibles and tablets will rise to the occasion, and if you really want a monitor - what's stopping you from hooking a surface pro up to a WQHD display? Nothing. I won't bore you with details but plenty of "real work" can be done on convertibles and tablets already.
Run VM's? Number crunching? Any form of HPC? Come now, each tool has its place. A hammer won't suffice if you need to bulldoze a building.
Correct. It's all about "small factors" now for Intel.I would also add that intel is completely focused on improving efficiency for ultra portable devices. I think that serves as anecdotal evidence of where computing is headed - keep in mind that i'm *not* stating that tablets/convertibles are a complete replacement yet, and i'm not saying that desktops won't have a place. But, the key point here is that the capabilities of "tablets" are improving exponentially and are constantly evolving - probably faster than many here realize. And intel is determined to increase that capability even more as they improve their architecture efficiency.
"A focus on the end-customer, a focus on execution and a really strong focus on the ultra-mobile segment of the business. That's pretty important," Smith told Reuters.
"They're all showing us - here's where the market's moving and here's where we need Intel to move," Krzanich said. "We're going to make adjustments in our architecture and our product choices."
Another good read.Based on revenue, Intel remained the top semiconductor company, but has lost market share to Samsung and Qualcomm, which design and supply chips for smartphones and tablets. A lot of Intel's chips are being used in PCs, whose sales are falling.
Intel's semiconductor sales in the first quarter were US$11.56 billion, a 3 percent drop from the $11.87 billion in the first quarter of 2012. Samsung's semiconductor sales were $7.95 billion, up by 13 percent thanks to a boost from Apple, whose chips for iPhones and iPads are manufactured and supplied by Samsung.
This may come as a shock to performance-pushing PC enthusiasts but the average Joe almost never encodes videos, nor will you catch him fragging fools in Crysis 3. Instead, Average Joe spends most of his time on mundane, often Web-centric tasks: Buying stuff online, sending emails, engaging friends and family on social media, maybe watching the occasional YouTube video--on default resolutions, natch, not high-definition--or playing a few hands of Solitaire.
Intel hitting the brakes in response to a drop in sales is a good thing for the company, a sign the company has a clear view into future demand. But this time, the economic situation is different.
"This is the first time I can remember through a downturn that Intel is not continuing fab expansion. This is the first time I've seen them put the brakes on for a while. They are still continuing process development, but it is putting a damper on some remote facilities," said McGregor.
He heard that the company started offering voluntary retirement at the plants based on age and experience, but there wasn't much interest. That means the next likely move is layoffs, which will probably happen under the new CEO. "I fully expect they won't announce anything related to fab capacity, but they will announce realignment once they get the new CEO in place," McGregor added.
And even then, there's a chance Intel won't bounce back to its previous levels. Intel makes PC chips and the PC simply isn't where technology is at these days.
"This is the first time we're seeing the entire industry coming up fairly well, but the PC sector is not leading it. The PC is not driving the direction of technology anymore, it's not driving processor technology and it's certainly not the software magnet for technology anymore. It's a tablet and smartphone world," said McGregor.
I've mentioned this several times, but the first thing I would point out is that tablet is merely a form factor - performance or efficiency is not an insurmountable problem, as was stated earlier. Already we're seeing convertible devices (which double as "tablets") such as the Surface Pro which are using the latest ULV processors from intel.
You can repeat it a million times but I can impossibly do my .
Not to be rude to anyone but all those folks who keep deluding themselves with "desktop will never die" (true for the 1-2% perhaps), "tablets augment desktop PCs", you guys are going to be the grandpas that get left behind, wondering what happened 10 years from now. The same guys who said snail mail will never die, cell phones will never catch on, who needs the internet, etc.
You can either reminisce about the "good old days" and get left behind or hop on the train to the modern world - Computing has evolved, for better or worse. The mass market can do most of their computing tasks on tablets or ultra portable devices, and certainly one can make an argument about tablets evolving to convertibles. I see the tablet evolving as the mass consumer product of choice, I don't see consumers reverting to old habits of buying desktop PCs. The anecdotal evidence of desktop sales is out there for anyone to view, unless you want to wear blinders and ignore it.
That isn't to say that desktop is irrelevant as of now. As a desktop guy myself, i'll state that I think it is no longer a product for the mass market, but it definitely has many years of life for extreme enthusiasts and tech nerds. The point is, the average joe who walks into best buy doesn't need a massive desktop PC that can do a gabillion GFlops. They can do all of their tasks (yes including productivity, believe it or not) on a tablet or macbook and that is what they are far more likely to buy.
Well alrighty then, you're stuck in your old school stubborn views. I've already stated that desktop is better suited for some things, but you're suggesting that a tablet is worthless. Can only browse the web with it. Okay , if you say so. I can think of a million similar advances in the prior decade which brought similar such stubborn old school reactions from folks who didn't see change coming or didn't want to acknowledge it - anyway - we'll see what happens two, three, four years from now. Keep an eye out.
Also, now you're arguing semantics about what is and isn't a tablet. What does and doesn't have a keyboard. What can and cannot connect to an external monitor. Really? Give me a break. What I can tell you is that convertibles are what's happening in the future, you should used to it. And does intel have a focus on the desktop? Nope. All of their architectures prioritize efficiency and usability in mobile environments - and this will obviously benefit mobile AND enterprise a lot.
Again. Desktop does do some things better. But here we are arguing semantics over what constitutes a portable device and what is "real work". That's about as ridiculous as this discussion can possibly get.
A tablet with mouse and keyboard is...a laptop.
Desktops and servers thrive off of each other. Unless ARM makes huge inroads on Intel's server business, there will always be an outlet for x86 technology in the regular consumer space.
While average Joe doesn't need a top end i7, he'll regret not having it when he does do something extreme or hardware demanding like video encoding. Yes, tablets + docks and ultraportable touch notebooks will be the future of mainstream consumer computing I think, as the past few years have shown, but the desktop has a healthy market of enthusiasts, business owners and workers who want the modularity and power of x86 that tablets really fail to offer. That power and flexibility comes at a cost of portability, but tablet users pay a pretty heavy price on flexibility and cost/performance themselves.
Layoffs? Intel? For real? They really aren't doing as well as many of their fans on this site seem to think that they are, I guess, if they are going to announce layoffs with the new CEO.He heard that the company started offering voluntary retirement at the plants based on age and experience, but there wasn't much interest. That means the next likely move is layoffs, which will probably happen under the new CEO. "I fully expect they won't announce anything related to fab capacity, but they will announce realignment once they get the new CEO in place," McGregor added.
If your average technophile is buying a half-dozen tablets in the last year, then I could see how, in terms of unit numbers, tablets are outselling PCs. I think a better comparison, would be in terms of $$$ sales volume, and not unit sales, because you can buy 2-3 tablets for what a decent PC costs. Perhaps then PCs wouldn't look quite as bad in comparison to tablet sales.I've had a half-dozen tablets in the last year
When I can get a tablet with the compute, I/O, storage, etc that I need then that will be my primary device.
If your average technophile is buying a half-dozen tablets in the last year, then I could see how, in terms of unit numbers, tablets are outselling PCs. I think a better comparison, would be in terms of $$$ sales volume, and not unit sales, because you can buy 2-3 tablets for what a decent PC costs. Perhaps then PCs wouldn't look quite as bad in comparison to tablet sales.
Therein lies a problem. Seems to me that many tablet manufacturers would like little walled gardens for their devices, telling you what you can't and can do
Finally, I disagree vehemently with your assertation that "real work" is just a matter of semantics. It isnt. If it were the 5 or 6 people in my study tabulating the data, doing analysis on PC controlled instrumentation, and scheduling the various patient treatments would all just bring a tablet to work tomorrow, read facebook all day, and say "oh, we did real work". Dont think the boss would agree with that at all!!
It's really tiring when some are analogously putting words in my mouth. I never stated that desktop's demise is imminent. I never said that desktop CANT do some things better, and I never stated that the two can't co-exist for the time being. This entire "real work" argument is pretty ridiculous IMHO - If you don't think "real work" can be done on a mobile device, which wouldn't be surprising since some here have completely incorrect and pigeonholed views of a "mobile computer", you would also be wrong. Mobile computing has dramatically shifted productivity in many workplaces, especially the medical field. I can name a dozen examples of how desktops have been replaced in this respect. Again, i'm not saying desktops are useless and can't do some things better. At the same time, you need to let go of your narrow-minded views of what can be done on a mobile computing device. Yes, "real work" can be done on a mobile computing device.
You can state that i'm stubborn. Okay, now there's a great setup for a never ending "well I am, well so are you" circular argument - again, don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say desktops were worthless. At the same time, people have incredibly narrow-minded and pigeonholed views of what constitutes a portable device. Like it or not , this is where computing is headed. Like it or not, the days of desktop IPC reigning supreme are seemingly gone. Like it or not, intel is focused on efficiency above all else. Like it or not, intel is going BGA only in 1-2 years time. (what ramifications does THAT have for desktop?)
I can't stress enough, that yes, I actually (BIG SURPRISE HERE) am a big fan of the desktop. Look at my sig, I have that as my primary, with another HTPC as well. But you simply can't ignore the anecdotal evidence in terms of consumer sales, trends, and even enterprise trends - efficiency and mobility are popular, and they're popular for a reason. That's not to say that traditional desktops won't exist in some form or fashion, but the mass consumer market really isn't purchasing desktops. The desktop certainly has quite a few years of life due to gamers and enthusiasts like me and you. But the long term proposition? I don't know - what will things be like 6-7 years from now when everything is BGA only? When mobile is *that* much more popular? Think long-term here.
Perhaps a better analogy would be that people are finding ways to do work, whether it's real or not depends on your interpretation, on a tablet or even a smartphone ! People could still do that "real" work on a single core & a few MHz of a processor based machine in the 90's & the same people can do that work without the need of a desktop today ! So in my view its all about adaptability & versatility, also convenience, so if you think people are being lazy or smart@ss for choosing a tablet or a smartphone for doing their work, whatever that maybe, then you're simply deriding their efforts !It is clear that we are just talking around in circles. You are saying "real work" is a ridiculous argument (your words), while I say it is the main point of the entire discussion of desktops/laptops vs tablets.
And lest you think I am in the dark ages or something, I have all three devices. I have a desktop at home, a work laptop, and a tablet of my own. And believe me the tablet falls far, far short, so far as to be practically useless, for productivity purposes. If you dont want to accept that, or think I am making it up for some ulterior motive, so be it. If I were to somehow be limited to only one of the three devices, I could easily live with the laptop or desktop, but would be very, very unhappy with only the tablet. And this has nothing to do with gaming BTW.
You can VERY easily spend more on a tablet than you on a PC, or vice versa. Just like PC's, there are cheap and there are expensive tablets, and just like PC's, the cheap ones don't have much margin. I doubt the outlook would be at all different if you looked at $$$.
yep a decent tablet isnt that cheap. look at even an ipad mini. by the time you get a decent amount of memory and lte youre spendin' around $600
Like it or not, intel is going BGA only in 1-2 years time. (what ramifications does THAT have for desktop?)
Why do people keep spreading this rumor around? I have never been able to find anything to support it.
Why do people keep spreading this rumor around? I have never been able to find anything to support it.
Can't find anything to support it? Are you looking? Seriously, even though I generally despise google based arguments, simply searching for term yields tens of thousands of results. Not only rumor websites, reputable websites -- cnet. ZDnet. PC perspective. Now maybe intel changed their minds after criticism, maybe my information is dated. I don't know. But I remember reading precisely that (intel going BGA only) at many reputable websites.
https://www.google.com/search?q=int...ome&ie=UTF-8&sei=ew-aUYWDFo7s9ASA64HgBg&gbv=2
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Processors/Intels-Broadwell-Goes-BGA-Only-Implications-Future-Desktops
http://www.extremetech.com/computin...dly-prepping-soldered-desktop-chips-after-all
http://www.zdnet.com/intel-preparing-to-put-an-end-to-user-replaceable-cpus-7000008024/