The Intel Atom Thread

[dealcorn]

I bet any cheap 300 dollar i3 or core pentium would game better than any of those atom tablets.

Nice straw man and a powerful attack on what was not said. Where did Tom's say a cheap Bay Trail tablet is a better gaming platform that a cheap tablet? Rather, I read the article to say if you have a cheap Bay Trail tablet, it has much more game than you might have expected. Their evidence is in the Article. This is newsworthy because their Bay Trail conclusion is far different from their experience with prior generation (Saltwell) Atom. Consumers deserve this kind of information even if it is properly dismissed by hard core gamers.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Seriously, when did it become a "strawman" argument to consider viable alternatives? And where did I say that consumers dont deserve this information? Actually, they do, because one needs to be aware of the limitations of trying to game on one of these tablets, which Tom's did point out, in that a lot of current games, even not particularly demanding ones, either wont run at all or are too slow to play adequately.

I do like these windows tablets, dont get me wrong. After living with android for two years with a cheap acer tablet, I definitely will purchase a windows tablet if I buy another. But I would not purchase it with the intent of running x86 games on it.

 

[SAAA]

The argument of tablets as a gaming platform makes sense considered that the most used apps on them are games, at least in the android/ios ecosystem. Of course you shouldn't expect to play last gen games, but that's clearly not the intent, instead any older game that is vaguely playable with the touch interface should matter, about the true apps well I'm unaware of them using only the desktop but the market has expanded a lot.
Heck if you are bored by the current titles you could even run a console/gameboy emulator and play some nice old games!
The comparison with low end i3 and pentiums laptops will be much more interesting the day Cherry Trail launches, the graphics should be better or similar.

 

[dealcorn]

Rather than argue, perhaps it is best to state Tom's conclusion.

"Of course, if you expect to spend a lot of time away from home base, a gaming-capable laptop is probably your smartest play. High-end notebooks sport high-res screens and the underlying hardware to drive them at demanding detail levels. If your budget is fairly flexible and you want the convenience of a convertible tablet, Microsoft's Surface Pro and Razer's Edge are much more powerful than the Venue 8 Pro tested today.

But expect to pay four or five times more than I did. But if you're a PC game enthusiast, you're willing to put up with a time investment into customized settings, you covet small form factors, and you dislike the idea of toting a full-sized notebook around, you'll be pleasantly surprised that the latest Windows 8.1-based tablets sport hardware fast enough for mainstream gaming. The fact that they're also quite affordable is icing on the cake."

On an extended Xmas road trip with the kid's in the back seat, "mainstream gaming" is a wonderful thing to have. Tom's characterization of "mainstream" may be inferred from the games they tested.

Given the historic investment that has been made in trash talking Atom, I find it hilarious than Tom's recognizes Atom as now capable of "mainstream" gaming. However, I suspect even Cherry Trail may be a Crysis fail. Tune in after Xmas for confirmation.

 

[Shivansps]

A lot of older games whould be playable if a good and customizable touch to keyboard/mouse input interface is created.

gestureworks was not the only one out there, i just dont remember the name.

 

[tential]

Rather than argue, perhaps it is best to state Tom's conclusion.

"Of course, if you expect to spend a lot of time away from home base, a gaming-capable laptop is probably your smartest play. High-end notebooks sport high-res screens and the underlying hardware to drive them at demanding detail levels. If your budget is fairly flexible and you want the convenience of a convertible tablet, Microsoft's Surface Pro and Razer's Edge are much more powerful than the Venue 8 Pro tested today.

But expect to pay four or five times more than I did. But if you're a PC game enthusiast, you're willing to put up with a time investment into customized settings, you covet small form factors, and you dislike the idea of toting a full-sized notebook around, you'll be pleasantly surprised that the latest Windows 8.1-based tablets sport hardware fast enough for mainstream gaming. The fact that they're also quite affordable is icing on the cake."

On an extended Xmas road trip with the kid's in the back seat, "mainstream gaming" is a wonderful thing to have. Tom's characterization of "mainstream" may be inferred from the games they tested.

Given the historic investment that has been made in trash talking Atom, I find it hilarious than Tom's recognizes Atom as now capable of "mainstream" gaming. However, I suspect even Cherry Trail may be a Crysis fail. Tune in after Xmas for confirmation.

I'm a gaming enthusiast I guess but I played GTA San Andreas on my 12 inch laptop with integrated graphics with all of the settings low. But the point was that I was able to take it with me everywhere and therefore I actually got my money's worth out of the game. Now, if I get a game I play small amounts but rarely complete the games due to never having the platform with me necessary to complete the game.

Gaming on a tablet is very interesting and it's interesting to see how it will evolve. For a person who just likes to play games and isn't a Graphics elitist this may serve them well. Not as a PURE gaming platform, but having the knowledge that you can game is pretty cool, especially if you can always have it with you.

If you take the train to work everyday and can play your favorite game each time to pass the ride that's great.

Even better to see where CherryTrail takes us.

 

[monstercameron]

Joined the darkside, bought the dell venue pro 8...

 

[North01]

I read the Toms article and hate to be negative, but I just dont get PC gaming on a tablet, at least with older games that are not optimized for touch. (and really that is all the cheap atom tablets will run)

For any kind of decent experience, you need a keyboard and mouse, and that seems to sort of defeat the purpose of a tablet (not to mention the tiny screen). Wouldnt it just be easier to use a real laptop? I bet any cheap 300 dollar i3 or core pentium would game better than any of those atom tablets. Maybe in a few years, when the hardware is more powerful, and possibly there are PC games designed for touch, things will be different, but as of now, just seems like too many compromises.

There will be the option of using a small tablet with a controller dock such as the Gamevice:

Designed for the iPad Mini (with additional platforms to follow soon), the Gamevice provides casual, mainstream, and hardcore gamers alike with satisfying classic hardware controls that don’t require pairing, charging cables, or balancing an iPad Mini against a coffee cup to get the right angle for playing with both hands.

 

[monstercameron]

Any one know if there are updated 3d drivers for the dell venue 8 pro?

 

[dahorns]

Any one know if there are updated 3d drivers for the dell venue 8 pro?

honestly don't remember, but you can use the dell app to find all the new drivers and other updates.

 

[monstercameron]

its just kinda odd the frequency [or the lack there of] in which intel released driver updates.

As for the device video watching is excellent and light gaming is possible. The biggest issues are touch responsiveness, windows scaling, 1 freaking usb interface[cant charge while in use!], how slow it feels using windows with a touch interface and never thought it would bug me but the lack or storage and/or fast external storage is killer. full sized sdxc uhs cards would have been nice.

 

[Roland00Address]

I read the Toms article and hate to be negative, but I just dont get PC gaming on a tablet, at least with older games that are not optimized for touch. (and really that is all the cheap atom tablets will run)

For any kind of decent experience, you need a keyboard and mouse, and that seems to sort of defeat the purpose of a tablet (not to mention the tiny screen). Wouldnt it just be easier to use a real laptop? I bet any cheap 300 dollar i3 or core pentium would game better than any of those atom tablets. Maybe in a few years, when the hardware is more powerful, and possibly there are PC games designed for touch, things will be different, but as of now, just seems like too many compromises.

IPS screen
Portable form factor
You can get a clamshell design like the t100

Sure you are playing older games, but you get better viewing angles and a lighter device for something like a backpack. The only problem is that do not put an awesome ips screen in many of these tablets for they are trying to be cheap and thus the brightness is usually 300 nits instead of 500 or 700.

 

[Shivansps]

its just kinda odd the frequency [or the lack there of] in which intel released driver updates.

As for the device video watching is excellent and light gaming is possible. The biggest issues are touch responsiveness, windows scaling, 1 freaking usb interface[cant charge while in use!], how slow it feels using windows with a touch interface and never thought it would bug me but the lack or storage and/or fast external storage is killer. full sized sdxc uhs cards would have been nice.

I think i prefer the T100 with a hard disk on the dock.

 

[dahorns]

its just kinda odd the frequency [or the lack there of] in which intel released driver updates.

As for the device video watching is excellent and light gaming is possible. The biggest issues are touch responsiveness, windows scaling, 1 freaking usb interface[cant charge while in use!], how slow it feels using windows with a touch interface and never thought it would bug me but the lack or storage and/or fast external storage is killer. full sized sdxc uhs cards would have been nice.

Touch responsiveness? Never had an issue there. Well, unless your talking about desktop windows, then yeah. I think you either need the pen or a mouse to use desktop windows effectively. The metro interface is fine for everything else.

For storage I went with a 64gb card - I think I went with the Samsung Pro. I don't keep a ton of videos or anything on it. Just have StarCraft 2, Portal, and a various roms on it for gaming.

The biggest problem I have is with the Windows Mail App. It can't simply query the server for older mail. You actually have to set the thing to download all. I have far too much mail for that.

 

[tential]

What'll be interesting is if we can get a controller that folds out into a full size. A compact controller that you can put in your bag along with your tablet that can be used wirelessly with it would be pretty neat. Obviously lots of people would still like to use touch interface but I'd like to see a more "portable" controller.

 

[witeken]

Intel just released 2nd quarter results a few minutes ago:

SeekingAlpha
- Intel (NASDAQ:INTC): Q2 EPS of $0.55 beats by $0.02.
- Revenue of $13.83B (+8.0% Y/Y) beats by $140M.
- Shares +2.21% AH.

Intel Press release

"With the ramp of our Baytrail SoC family, we have expanded into new segments such as Chrome-based systems, and we are on track to meet our 40 million unit tablet goal. In addition, we hit an important qualification milestone for our upcoming 14nm Broadwell product, and expect the first systems to be on shelves during the holidays."

Intel is still on track for its 40M tablet goal. I'm looking forward to the conference call. I hope those analysts ask questions about technology and products instead of financials .

 

[liahos1]

Intel just released 2nd quarter results a few minutes ago:

SeekingAlpha
- Intel (NASDAQ:INTC): Q2 EPS of $0.55 beats by $0.02.
- Revenue of $13.83B (+8.0% Y/Y) beats by $140M.
- Shares +2.21% AH.

Intel Press release

"With the ramp of our Baytrail SoC family, we have expanded into new segments such as Chrome-based systems, and we are on track to meet our 40 million unit tablet goal. In addition, we hit an important qualification milestone for our upcoming 14nm Broadwell product, and expect the first systems to be on shelves during the holidays."

Intel is still on track for its 40M tablet goal. I'm looking forward to the conference call. I hope those analysts ask questions about technology and products instead of financials .

they also announced they woudl be increasing buyback authorization by 20bln!

 

[witeken]

they also announced they woudl be increasing buyback authorization by 20bln!

For those interested, here is the CFO commentary:

CFO Commentary on Second-Quarter 2014 Results

 

[Roland00Address]

Intel is still on track for its 40M tablet goal. I'm looking forward to the conference call. I hope those analysts ask questions about technology and products instead of financials .

Did they state how many tablet soc they have sold?

I know it is not supposed to be 10 million per quarter, but still how many is important

* For it takes time to design devices so you have low sells at the start
* The cheap baytrail chips for android were just recently released
* The season of when people buy consumer electronics have highs and lows such as christmas time and other countries major holidays.

 

[liahos1]

Did they state how many tablet soc they have sold?

I know it is not supposed to be 10 million per quarter, but still how many is important

* For it takes time to design devices so you have low sells at the start
* The cheap baytrail chips for android were just recently released
* The season of when people buy consumer electronics have highs and lows such as christmas time and other countries major holidays.

they said 10mln in q2, vs 5mln in q1 and they are "squarely on track" to meeting their goal for the year.

 

[bullzz]

15mn in 1st 2 Qs means they can hit 30 with ease

 

[Homeles]

15mn in 1st 2 Qs means they can hit 30 with ease

Well, they're targeting 40M. 30M should be easy to hit, but they're going to need some solid quarters to get 40M. Should get fairly close, regardless.

 

[tential]

Well, they're targeting 40M. 30M should be easy to hit, but they're going to need some solid quarters to get 40M. Should get fairly close, regardless.

Wouldn't the best quarter for them be Q3/Q4? Back to school season and Holiday Season? So really I'm not worried at all. Intel is a buy right now. If you don't like making money you shouldn't pick it up.

 

[Homeles]

Wouldn't the best quarter for them be Q3/Q4? Back to school season and Holiday Season? So really I'm not worried at all. Intel is a buy right now. If you don't like making money you shouldn't pick it up.

Unfortunately, it takes money to get money. Intel's been a buy for a while now...

Q3 and Q4 are their biggest, yes, but not tremendously different that Q1 and Q2, at least from an overall revenue standpoint. Didn't look at how their individual units do, though.

 

[jpiniero]

I don't know why you didn't make a new thread but...

For those interested, here is the CFO commentary:

CFO Commentary on Second-Quarter 2014 Results

Considering PC sales for the entire Windows market were flat and Intel was up 9% on volume, you would think that would be very bad news for AMD. Still wonder how much of this is simply XP replacements.