3 Theories For Why Intel Is Merging Mobile And PC Divisions

[g00ey]

This strategy has mostly gotten Intel what it wanted to achieve ...

A quick question to someone who is better versed in grammar than I am; is this a correct way to express it? Usually when I write about a company I think about it as a group of people. A company has no feelings or opinions, but the people working in that company have. So wouldn't it be more proper so use "they" instead of "it" here? I.e.

This strategy has mostly gotten Intel what they wanted to achieve, ...

?

 

[InvalidError]

So wouldn't it be more proper so use "they" instead of "it" here?

I think both forms are correct; it all depends on how the writer views companies.

Personally, I do not mind either way as long as the form is consistent throughout the article.

 

[RedJaron]

History tends to repeat patterns. Maybe you are too young to see a pattern repeating over and over, but I'm old enough to know that generally higher volume and cheaper technologies tend to replace lower volume more expensive ones despite the higher capabilities of the later. Today PC-server market has stabilized around 300-400 millions units a year while mobile devices sell by the billions. Maybe PCs are more powerful but any smartphone has enough computing power to do serious work for 99% of users.

Exactly, and this is what many people don't realize. Most users on these forums are power users, gamers, or other people that have computing needs and desires far above those of the general populous. While most of us here wouldn't be satisfied with just an iPad, the ability to surf the web, check email, and watch cat videos takes care of the vast majority of consumers. Over the past five years, if you had $500 to spend on portable computing and you didn't have any high-powered needs, would you rather get a thin, light, instant-power-on device like a tablet or a bigger, heavier, mediocre laptop? This latest iteration of Atom makes things very interesting as you can now get something like the Asus T100T or Acer Switch 10 for $300. That's a sufficiently powerful x86 system that can handle casual computing and a few more advanced things than you can do on iOS, Android, or another mobile specific OS.

I don't think the desktop PC will go away anytime soon. But it wouldn't surprise me if in five years the typical home/office PC was a tablet with a docking station rather than a mini-tower.

On a side note, it's pretty amazing to think you have more computing power in your hand than all the NASA systems that sent men to the moon.

This strategy has mostly gotten Intel what it wanted to achieve ...

A quick question to someone who is better versed in grammar than I am; is this a correct way to express it?

Yes, that is correct. Even though a group or coalition is made up of many sub-entities, the group itself is still singular. Common usage does allow to refer to it as a plural, though, and most people won't care which way you say it.

 

[none12345]

Id say a slate replacing desktops is a possibility. Tablets or phones will NEVER replace desktops. The reason is really simple, their screens are too small. If their screens become big enough to replace desktops, they are no longer tablets, they become slates.

Really its not about phones, or tablets, or laptops, or slates, or desktops etc. Its about 2 things. Content consumption and content creation.

Content consumption can be done on any device, size doesnt really matter. Portables will dominate all over content consumption. Really phones are just tablets that can make a phone call. The phone call part is rarely used anymore compared to all the tablet functiosn people use.

Content creation needs a large screen, and probably a static work surface, ie a desk. If you are doing data entry you need a keyboard, because touch is just too slow by comparison.

So, sure the traditional desktop might go away. Probably will for most people. But the need for a 'desktop' ie a not so portable content creation space, will never go away. It will just be called something else, ie a slate with a docking station.

 

[InvalidError]

Id say a slate replacing desktops is a possibility. Tablets or phones will NEVER replace desktops.

That depends on who you ask.

I know that both of my sisters, their respective boyfriends and my mother hardly ever use their PC at home and what little use they make of their PC, they could do on their smartphones if they wanted to. At most, they might need an external display and keyboard for the occasional lengthy post. My father would probably have no use for a PC either if he had a smartphone since all he does on it is check stock quotes and online banking.

Apart from CAD/engineering stuff, I have almost no other uses for a PC either that a tablet or phone with external displays and keyboard would not be sufficient for.

 

[RedJaron]

Id say a slate replacing desktops is a possibility. Tablets or phones will NEVER replace desktops. The reason is really simple, their screens are too small. If their screens become big enough to replace desktops, they are no longer tablets, they become slates.

Consider this: this weekend my wife just got me an Aspire Switch 10. Full x86 Windows on a 10" tablet, a plug-in keyboard dock, mini-HDMI, and full USB port. These ports make it easy to dock this to a full keyboard and full-size display. The Atom CPU in this is enough for basic home office use as well. The only thing lacking is large capacity storage.

As CPU power increases as power requirements drop, I can easily see a near-future where instead of towers, full PCs are more common in tablet form. It works just fine on the go, but you can also dock it at a desk when you need a full keyboard and display. At the same time, the power that's currently available in netbooks will shrink down to cellphone size.

So I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect phones and tablets to replace casual computing needs completely.