Pretty crappy move by AMD. I have no problems with renaming as long as they move them lower in the naming hierarchy.
Why "too harsh"? It is customer deception. As is when a laptop video module bears nearly the same name as a desktop video card but has drastically lower performance.
Wait, its suddenly a problem that AMD does it?
Wait, what? When has this not been true? The 5870M isn't nearly as powerful as the HD 5870. 580M vs GTX 580, 560M vs GTX 560, 6990M vs HD 6990, etc. etc.
Unless you get really angry every time a mobile GPU launches, this is pretty standard fare.
Wait, its suddenly a problem that AMD does it?
How is it crappy for consumers who don't give a flip in the first place? You're upset but don't try to rationalize your opinion on some business practice on those of my mom who just buys a laptop and wants to play farmville and bejeweled.
Also, why are you going to waste your time trying to inform people who really don't care? I mean, really? Your gf or close family member, eh I guess. Even then though they don't give a crap and are accepting of your help because they're not going to want to tell you they don't give two shits about what really is the model number of their gpu. They'll feign interest at best. It's not some civic duty of yours to keep people from being deceived by the big bad OEMs. Learn to pick your fights.
Please explain how these people are being deceived.You should hang out with different people, seriously. Or learn how to present what some people may consider to be "esoteric" information in an engaging and relatable way.
I - and many others - do consider it a civic duty to "keep people from being deceived by the big bad OEMs". It's part of being a good neighbor.
Please explain how these people are being deceived.
Holy cow, marketing shoves decisions like this down the pipeline but...
"Nvidia does it too!"
"The customers buying these products won't know/care!"
"This is how it's always been done!"
...these are poor attempts to justify or forgive a crappy practice. All of these points could be true, it doesn't change the fact that it's crappy (unless you're not a consumer).
But he wasn't deceived in that example. Unless there was an ad that said "Get the new, faster 9800GT!" associated with the PC or elsewhere, he made an erroneous assumption and you saved him from the consequences. Again, I'll use the car example and ask if any of the people that are so outraged here show the same outrage to auto manufacturers who use the same engine in next year's model? Responsible consumers learn about the products they're purchasing and don't make assumptions, especially when they're lacking info.Briefly... a few years ago I had a coworker who thought that he should pay an extra $100 for a system that had a 9800GT, rather than the 8800GT. He thought the 9800GT was newer tech and therefore better, despite the fact that it was merely a rebranded 8800GT. I call that deception.
Also, and not-related to the "big bad OEMs", if I overhear someone getting the shuck-n-jive at Best Buy or wherever, I'll help 'em out.
But he wasn't deceived in that example. Unless there was an ad that said "Get the new, faster 9800GT!" associated with the PC or elsewhere, he made an erroneous assumption and you saved him from the consequences. Again, I'll use the car example and ask if any of the people that are so outraged here show the same outrage to auto manufacturers who use the same engine in next year's model? Responsible consumers learn about the products they're purchasing and don't make assumptions, especially when they're lacking info.
And I'm with you, I generally spend an hour doing a 15 minute errand in tech stores for the same reason.
How is it crappy for consumers who don't give a flip in the first place? You're upset but don't try to rationalize your opinion on some business practice on those of my mom who just buys a laptop and wants to play farmville and bejeweled.
Also, why are you going to waste your time trying to inform people who really don't care? I mean, really? Your gf or close family member, eh I guess. Even then though they don't give a crap and are accepting of your help because they're not going to want to tell you they don't give two shits about what really is the model number of their gpu. They'll feign interest at best. It's not some civic duty of yours to keep people from being deceived by the big bad OEMs. Learn to pick your fights.
But he wasn't deceived in that example. Unless there was an ad that said "Get the new, faster 9800GT!" associated with the PC or elsewhere, he made an erroneous assumption and you saved him from the consequences. Again, I'll use the car example and ask if any of the people that are so outraged here show the same outrage to auto manufacturers who use the same engine in next year's model? Responsible consumers learn about the products they're purchasing and don't make assumptions, especially when they're lacking info.
And I'm with you, I generally spend an hour doing a 15 minute errand in tech stores for the same reason.
To the posters above, I don't think the 9800GT was a rebadge exactly. different fab (lower power), tri-sli support, and hdmi audio passthrough (maybe?)
Could be wrong tho
And I'm with you, I generally spend an hour doing a 15 minute errand in tech stores for the same reason.
And that's my point, it's an assumption by the consumer that the part is newer, so it must be faster. Unless the claim is specifically made that this is so, the fault rests on the consumer. I'm not saying companies don't play into this either, for example, remember when many people erroneously assumed back in the day that their higher GHz Intel CPU's were faster than the lower clocked AMD's? In the end though, any fault rests on the consumer unless shown otherwise.I think it was a fair assumption that the 9800gt should have been > than 8800gt given the new shiny name it got. Not everyone has time to do the proper research when purchasing a video card, for many of these customers these are just tools.
I think it's a wrong practice, no matter who's doing it, AMD and NVDA both suck!
This is a whole other side to the argument, but I agree.This exactly. No one I help really cares- they'd be perfectly happy with a windows reinstall on a C2D system with an HD4350 gpu. ie, "brand new computer" to them.
Yeah, we all know its not a new card, but honestly I could give a dang less.
plus, I'm rooting for anything that makes AMD profit so they won't slip. Competition is great. I love my 2600k, but I dread what it would have cost if there wasn't the imminent BD release when I bought it ($260 shipped, bnib!)
And I agree, but you can't fault a company, which is there to make money, for using that to their advantage. As I said, if a current part fits within their performance range, they have already committed the R&D, and it is setup to run on a cheaper, larger process, they aren't going to throw away profit.IMO, the rebranding of a video card in order to give it the appearance of moving up the ladder, or to associate it with it's higher-class but unrelated siblings, irks me. I consider it deceptive, but I'm a pretty straightforward person like that. I agree that people need to do their research, but I also think that companies prey on the laziness of people who don't.
But all car commercials say "the NEW 2012 Honda Accord" or whatever. My point is things get recycled. The 9800GT was a new card, it just used the same engine. :thumbsup:re: automotive engines, as long as the carryover engine is not marketed as "new" then I don't have a problem with it. Also, engines are easier to quantify, because primary consumer-oriented metrics like fuel economy, HP and torque are both upfront and standardized measurements.
Maybe customer deception is a bit too harsh of a term to use, but this needs to stop.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5291/amd-quietly-releases-the-oemonly-radeon-hd-7670-turks-rides-again
How is it crappy for consumers who don't give a flip in the first place? You're upset but don't try to rationalize your opinion on some business practice on those of my mom who just buys a laptop and wants to play farmville and bejeweled.
Also, why are you going to waste your time trying to inform people who really don't care? I mean, really? Your gf or close family member, eh I guess. Even then though they don't give a crap and are accepting of your help because they're not going to want to tell you they don't give two shits about what really is the model number of their gpu. They'll feign interest at best. It's not some civic duty of yours to keep people from being deceived by the big bad OEMs. Learn to pick your fights.
What are you talking about?
All this rebadge stuff is nuisance from everyone - the only interested are the stores that want to have stuff saying "New Model".
If I see someone choosing between pieces of hardware that are absolutely equal and one is more expensive than the other because it is new, I'll tell them buy the cheaper since it is the same.
Likewise if I see someone asking about a 6770, I'll point to "look for the 5770 and see it is cheaper".
If that is a strenuous civic fight...