Hah, I didn't see your reply. I actually agree with that high level assessment.
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In another topic I saw briefly mentioned in a few posts: not taking the "gaming crown" for Intel is hurting them (EDIT: some said it's not relevant or less important). Keep in mind they segment their lineup so that "gamers" are forced to buy the i9 tier for "maxxxxxxximum gamerz powaa" and they're not even shy to put that in most of their marketing material sent to reviewers and presented in show floors, etc.
Another important point to mention there is the Zen5 bad reception was mainly due to their poor gaming uplift and not their application performance improvements (which are really good and everyone has acknowledged that). Arrow Lake is a hit or miss here, but at least they're more competitive against AMD now.
Back to the gaming argument: look at this:
View: https://youtu.be/sL5AdestfNY?t=109
That is the official review kit. Notice the "Made to Game" slogan? That is at the top. So, again, that is confirmation Intel now has a huge uphill battle with the new VCache'd siblings looming on the horizon. Also, important: I'm not making a value judgement, because that is almost always a case-by-case analysis (personal).
Regards.