What AMD Views as Important: Tablets, Servers, Notebooks & GPUs
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 2, 2012 1:33 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- AMD
- Trade Shows
- AMD FAD 2012
The slide above really puts AMD's focus into perspective. AMD is mostly interested in markets that have high annual growth rates. Looking above you can see that pretty much all of those categories with the exception of the client desktop are interesting for AMD. It's about time that AMD focused more on mobile and I don't believe that it's too late for the company. Given all of our history as a community with AMD, it is sad to think that the high-end desktop CPU market won't be as important to the company going forward. It's likely the right decision for AMD but it's truly the end of an era.
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quiksilvr - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
No consumer needs them unless they are epic gaming and every pixel counts, and that is a very niche market nowadays.You don't even need a desktop to do high end video editing anymore. The more efficient programs become and the more powerful mobile devices become, the smaller the computer needed.
Remember when in the '60s computers were the size of rooms? Just makes sense to go smaller.
umbrel - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
And if they suceed with the APU thing and manage to boost the GPU part even high end gaming should be achivable with less than high end cores, not the current ones of course, I'm thinking 3 years from now.The only games that should require TruHighEnd® CPU will be those with advanced AI.
Hector2 - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
So a postage stamp size tablet will be better still, eh ? I don't think so. I use a docking station at work for my i7 notebook to interface with my 27" LCD monitor, wireless mouse & wireless keyboard. At home I have a desktop to do the sameWhy in the world when I'm at home or at work would I want to peck at a little virtual keyboard and tiny little screen ? Sure, they're great when I'm mobile and don't want to be lugging around monitors & keyboards.
Did I miss something and the market for large LCD monitors, keyboards and mice just dry up ? Is everyone abandoning their big monitors and keyboards at home or the office in favor of tiny keyboards & screens ? Really ?
As long as people are the size we are today and don't shrink as well, we'll be using big monitors and keyboards when we can.
What a "PC" is is evolving with time. More & more "laptops" are being sold instead of desktops but desktops still offer more today than laptops have and they're not as fragile. Ultrabooks will replace "laptops" before desktops go away. The Ultrabooks will be a blend of today's tablets and laptops.
Ultrabooks will continue to get smaller, lighter, thinner, and more powerful. They will have "touch", run Windows apps as well as other OS's. They'll be very mobile but when at home or work, they will be popped into docking stations for a better interface experience. When my desktop no longer offers me a better experience than a small CPU box (call it anything you want) connected to a docking station, then & only then will I get rid of my desktop.
That'll be awhile.
umbrel - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
Relax, no one is banning periphericals, we are talking about the computing part.Remember that Intel is already pursuing designs where there is only monitor, keyboard and mice (kinda flat panel imacs), and there are already designs of phones that dock into a laptop form.
Give to the industry another 5 years and there will be phones docking to a monitor and the keyboard and mice will be conected to the monitor too, or wire less. Actually given the push for wireless video the phone might not even dock, the perifericals will just work with the phone when it is close, in the wireless charging station I guess.
Plus this year are already designs for in-glasses display that are almost practical, I give them 2 more years to get to something that can actually be used properly. Add the improvements in voice commands and gestures recognition and there is a good chance for stamp sized phones, no screen and no keyboard, just a nanoTX with wireless capabilities.
I've decided, I just named the wristtop. :)
Herp Derpson - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
Voice Recognition is gonna be super-awkward. I imagine telling my computer to open porn folder. Probably will never use it. Besides it's very slow and inefficient. I'd rather have my PC hooked up too my nervous system :D.DanNeely - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
That's what the motion capture hardware is for. Unbuckle your belt and it'll open the folder and start playing a random selection.Herp Derpson - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
Man, you really got me interested!jaydee - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
AMD is simply saying that desktop CPU's are no longer a market with high annual growth rates (like tablets, notebooks, etc). Are you refuting that, or merely taking up a strawman argument?Impulses - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
You and I and most enthusiasts are in a shrinking majority... The growing majority may not favor postage sized devices but the do favor mid range sub-$1,000 laptops, which have been fast enough for most common uses for a few years now...Impulses - Thursday, February 2, 2012 - link
Shrinking minority, blah