6 ms·

Any threats to Intel's (almost?) monopoly on laptops/desktops is a good thing.

phoenix3200 9y ago
It really is just a threat though. These companies use the appearance of a competitor to extract cheaper pricing from their suppliers. If anyone is expecting better than Netbook performance, they're probably out of their mind.
- paulftw 9y ago
  Yes, but how many people really need better than netbook performance? Most knowledge workers only need email, excel and web browser. SaaS is eating desktop. Modern smartphone is capable of 3d games and even VR. Dropping prices temporarily until a newcomer is strangled is something we've heard of in the past, but this time the competitor has a huge and growing mobile market, so the threat and lower prices are likely to stay around for a long time.
  - mbel 9y ago
    > Yes, but how many people really need better than netbook performance? With current super bloated state of the web, Electron apps and other disasters? Probably all of them.
albeva 9y ago
Competition yes, but I'd prefer from AMD rather than a different CPU architecture.
- paulftw 9y ago
  Putting out two fires simultaneously means fewer resources are spent on each individual one. I could even fantasize about a scenario where Intel: "if you launch an ARM laptop we'll raise our prices" Microsoft: "fine, we will switch to AMD"
- frandroid 9y ago
  Isn't AMD emulating x86 over RISC anyway?
  - Hamcha 9y ago
    as is Intel, I don't think there has been a true x86 CPU in a while
    - 0xFFC 9y ago
      I did hear this from my Prof in our university too, where can I find information about this?
      - phoenix3200 9y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode
        bobsam 9y ago
        I think you were thinking of microarchitecture, microcode is related but probably not what parent meant. Information about Intel internal architectures is highly confidential, but there are remotely related technologies that are generic and public, for example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_renaming https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_renaming
        phoenix3200 9y ago
        Nah, Tomasulo and all that jazz (microarchitecture) is about improving performance once you've got a defined instruction set. Microcode (which is one of those highly confidential things that both Intel and AMD hold close and dear) is about doing an on-the-fly CISC to RISC transformation because you realized that the legacy x86 ISA is an absolute pain to handle (but you aren't willing to give it up).
        9y ago
shams93 9y ago
This actually seems to be more aimed at hurting the ipad for business than hurting intel. You can write your business apps in .Net and roll them out to users who are currently using ios and save pain and cost from using tools like Xamarin to try to use your .Net team to write ios apps with c#.

It really is just a threat though. These companies use the appearance of a competitor to extract cheaper pricing from their suppliers. If anyone is expecting better than Netbook performance, they're probably out of their mind.

paulftw 9y ago
Yes, but how many people really need better than netbook performance? Most knowledge workers only need email, excel and web browser. SaaS is eating desktop. Modern smartphone is capable of 3d games and even VR. Dropping prices temporarily until a newcomer is strangled is something we've heard of in the past, but this time the competitor has a huge and growing mobile market, so the threat and lower prices are likely to stay around for a long time.
- mbel 9y ago
  > Yes, but how many people really need better than netbook performance? With current super bloated state of the web, Electron apps and other disasters? Probably all of them.

albeva 9y ago

Competition yes, but I'd prefer from AMD rather than a different CPU architecture.

paulftw 9y ago
Putting out two fires simultaneously means fewer resources are spent on each individual one. I could even fantasize about a scenario where Intel: "if you launch an ARM laptop we'll raise our prices" Microsoft: "fine, we will switch to AMD"
frandroid 9y ago
Isn't AMD emulating x86 over RISC anyway?
- Hamcha 9y ago
  as is Intel, I don't think there has been a true x86 CPU in a while
  - 0xFFC 9y ago
    I did hear this from my Prof in our university too, where can I find information about this?
    - phoenix3200 9y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode
      - bobsam 9y ago
        I think you were thinking of microarchitecture, microcode is related but probably not what parent meant. Information about Intel internal architectures is highly confidential, but there are remotely related technologies that are generic and public, for example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_renaming https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_renaming
        phoenix3200 9y ago
        Nah, Tomasulo and all that jazz (microarchitecture) is about improving performance once you've got a defined instruction set. Microcode (which is one of those highly confidential things that both Intel and AMD hold close and dear) is about doing an on-the-fly CISC to RISC transformation because you realized that the legacy x86 ISA is an absolute pain to handle (but you aren't willing to give it up).
        9y ago

shams93 9y ago

This actually seems to be more aimed at hurting the ipad for business than hurting intel. You can write your business apps in .Net and roll them out to users who are currently using ios and save pain and cost from using tools like Xamarin to try to use your .Net team to write ios apps with c#.