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Under the spotlightWhat AMDs recent successes has done is put every move Intel makes under the spotlight, leading people to question everything it does and wonder whether or not it is in response to AMDs resurgence.Take Intels recent price cuts for its Cascade Lake-X processors, and its budget Core i5-9400F CPU. Now, this could be framed as Intel getting spooked by AMD, and cutting its prices in response. Considering the new threat AMD now poses, thats a theory thats not without merit but of course it doesnt tell the whole story.First of all, making drastic price cuts to your products is not something a company especially one as successful as Intel does on a whim. This can take months of planning if not longer while taking into consideration all kinds of impacts the price cut will have. Im not just talking about the impact to profits either cutting prices on products can alter the perception customers have of them. Make a once premium product too cheap, and it can lose a lot of appeal especially if its then competing against products from competing companies who have much more experience and success at producing budget products like AMD.So, while its tempting to picture Intel cutting prices all over the place in a bid to halt AMDs rise, its unlikely thats whats happening.A more generous reading of the situation for Intel, at least is that the company has finally decided to make its products more affordable the perceived Intel premium, which leads to its products being more expensive than the competition, has often been criticized by customers. Cutting prices could also lead to bigger sales after all, getting your products into the hands (and PC cases) of more people is always a good thing.Releasing more wallet-friendly devices could also be a nice PR win for Intel though at the moment AMD seems to be stealing all the limelight.(Image credit: Intel)Tricks of the tradeIts also worth remembering that while AMD is certainly doing well with its new processors, Intel isnt resting on its laurels something the company has certainly been guilty of in the past. Instead, the company has some innovative and exciting new tech coming out.One of the best side effects of AMDs recent successes seems to be Intel no longer taking its market lead for granted. Now, this could me doing exactly what I was cautioning against only a few paragraphs earlier reading anti-AMD motives in Intels behaviour when none exist but it certainly feels like Intel is coming up with some of its most exciting products in years. From consumer processors with huge core counts, to upcoming CPUs that look like they could be beasts when it comes to overclocking, theres some great stuff coming out of Intels corner.Of course, theres also the fact that its coming out with its own Intel Xe graphics card to compete with AMD and Nvidia and we should be seeing it by mid-2020.(Image credit: Intel)Athena? Nice!Theres also one area that Intels dominance remains unchallenged: laptop processors. Again, we have seen an increase in AMD-toting laptops recently and Microsoft releasing a Surface Laptop 3with an AMD variant was a huge coup for the company but Intel easily remains king in this regard not just in sheer number of products available, but in performance as well.And, while news of Microsoft no longer using Intel hardware exclusively in its Surface devices got a lot of people excited, its worth remembering that Microsoft is still releasing Surface devices with Intel CPUs. Those are the versions that will likely sell the most and (this is me making a slightly controversial prediction before our full review of the products are finalised) will perform better as well.Weve also had time with a number of upcoming Project Athena laptops. These are devices from some of the largest manufacturers in the world who have worked closely with Intel to produce laptops that are incredibly powerful, and yet also offer hugely improved battery lives and always-on connectivity. From what Ive seen of these laptops already, they could be real game changers.Intel has also made huge strides in improving the integrated graphics of its processors. I met up with Intel last week for its Open House event at the Science Museum in London, UK (an absolutely brilliant choice of venue, by the way), and got to see first hand some very thin and light laptops running games at impressive visual quality and at high frame rates all using the integrated graphics of Intels 10th generation Core processors. Again, this is seriously impressive and exciting innovations from Intel, and something I dont see AMD matching any time soon.So, yes, AMD is doing amazingly well, and that is great to see. No one likes a monopoly. But dont count out Intel just yet the company has a lot of tricks up its sleeve to keep us consumers on its side and in the end, thats great news for us.N3eFDe8JkV9g2E53son4sJ.jpg?# )
AMD has had one hell of a 2019 so far at least when it comes to its processor business with great reviews and stellar sales that have seen it gobble up more market share than it has done in over a decade.While its undoubtedly been thrilling to see AMD claw its way back out of obscurity and become a real force to be reckoned with in the CPU industry again, it feels like a few too many of us have been overly hasty in writing off Intel.Sure, AMDs been on a hot streak right now, and youd be crazy if you didnt think that has caused some rather worried discussions over at Intel, but youd also be equally loopy if you thought that Intels vast dominance over the CPU market would be under any serious threat for now.(Image credit: Future)Under the spotlightWhat AMDs recent successes has done is put every move Intel makes under the spotlight, leading people to question everything it does and wonder whether or not it is in response to AMDs resurgence.Take Intels recent price cuts for its Cascade Lake-X processors, and its budget Core i5-9400F CPU.
Now, this could be framed as Intel getting spooked by AMD, and cutting its prices in response.
Considering the new threat AMD now poses, thats a theory thats not without merit but of course it doesnt tell the whole story.First of all, making drastic price cuts to your products is not something a company especially one as successful as Intel does on a whim.
This can take months of planning if not longer while taking into consideration all kinds of impacts the price cut will have.
Im not just talking about the impact to profits either cutting prices on products can alter the perception customers have of them.
Make a once premium product too cheap, and it can lose a lot of appeal especially if its then competing against products from competing companies who have much more experience and success at producing budget products like AMD.So, while its tempting to picture Intel cutting prices all over the place in a bid to halt AMDs rise, its unlikely thats whats happening.A more generous reading of the situation for Intel, at least is that the company has finally decided to make its products more affordable the perceived Intel premium, which leads to its products being more expensive than the competition, has often been criticized by customers.
Cutting prices could also lead to bigger sales after all, getting your products into the hands (and PC cases) of more people is always a good thing.Releasing more wallet-friendly devices could also be a nice PR win for Intel though at the moment AMD seems to be stealing all the limelight.(Image credit: Intel)Tricks of the tradeIts also worth remembering that while AMD is certainly doing well with its new processors, Intel isnt resting on its laurels something the company has certainly been guilty of in the past.
Instead, the company has some innovative and exciting new tech coming out.One of the best side effects of AMDs recent successes seems to be Intel no longer taking its market lead for granted.
Now, this could me doing exactly what I was cautioning against only a few paragraphs earlier reading anti-AMD motives in Intels behaviour when none exist but it certainly feels like Intel is coming up with some of its most exciting products in years.
From consumer processors with huge core counts, to upcoming CPUs that look like they could be beasts when it comes to overclocking, theres some great stuff coming out of Intels corner.Of course, theres also the fact that its coming out with its own Intel Xe graphics card to compete with AMD and Nvidia and we should be seeing it by mid-2020.(Image credit: Intel)Athena? Nice!Theres also one area that Intels dominance remains unchallenged: laptop processors.
Again, we have seen an increase in AMD-toting laptops recently and Microsoft releasing a Surface Laptop 3with an AMD variant was a huge coup for the company but Intel easily remains king in this regard not just in sheer number of products available, but in performance as well.And, while news of Microsoft no longer using Intel hardware exclusively in its Surface devices got a lot of people excited, its worth remembering that Microsoft is still releasing Surface devices with Intel CPUs.
Those are the versions that will likely sell the most and (this is me making a slightly controversial prediction before our full review of the products are finalised) will perform better as well.Weve also had time with a number of upcoming Project Athena laptops.
These are devices from some of the largest manufacturers in the world who have worked closely with Intel to produce laptops that are incredibly powerful, and yet also offer hugely improved battery lives and always-on connectivity.
From what Ive seen of these laptops already, they could be real game changers.Intel has also made huge strides in improving the integrated graphics of its processors.
I met up with Intel last week for its Open House event at the Science Museum in London, UK (an absolutely brilliant choice of venue, by the way), and got to see first hand some very thin and light laptops running games at impressive visual quality and at high frame rates all using the integrated graphics of Intels 10th generation Core processors.
Again, this is seriously impressive and exciting innovations from Intel, and something I dont see AMD matching any time soon.So, yes, AMD is doing amazingly well, and that is great to see.
No one likes a monopoly.
But dont count out Intel just yet the company has a lot of tricks up its sleeve to keep us consumers on its side and in the end, thats great news for us.N3eFDe8JkV9g2E53son4sJ.jpg?#
