News Intel's interim co-CEO claims retailers are 'concerned' by return rate of Qualcomm powered machines

[P.Amini]

Seems like a lot of people posting here don't understand why she would be talking about this so here's the context for the response:

Now this makes much more sense and it totally changes the meaning. I should thank you for the information as one of readers that clarifies disinformation from one of authors of TH!

 

[bit_user]

I think we can all agree that the most unbelievable part of this article is the Intel CEO claiming to have talked to “any” retailer.

I don't find that part so hard to believe. I can understand why Intel would want to talk with its biggest customers and partners, during this period of transition & uncertainty, to try and keep them engaged. Plus, she didn't say she had talked to them herself. She could be relaying what she's been told by the sales & marketing folks. So, that aspect sounds plausible enough, to me.

 

[ryanshultz]

He doesn't say an actual number just vagueness of "large". And really the return rate only needs to be higher than the x86 return rate for his point to stand.

It definitely is, for a regular user all its takes is one program not working right for them to return it. People on this site might spend the time to find a work around but your avg. Best Buy customer isn't.

Those average Best Buy customers don't use the very few applications that aren't compatible though. So his claim is likely based more on fear than facts.

 

[djrichard]

ARMs work very well for Chromebooks. That said, it's hard to get said chromebooks at a good price point. Ended up going Intel-based

 

[Conor Stewart]

He doesn't say an actual number just vagueness of "large". And really the return rate only needs to be higher than the x86 return rate for his point to stand.

It definitely is, for a regular user all its takes is one program not working right for them to return it. People on this site might spend the time to find a work around but your avg. Best Buy customer isn't.

What programs that regular users use aren't working then? You claim some don't work and you need to find workarounds, do you have any examples to back that up?

 

[thestryker]

What programs that regular users use aren't working then? You claim some don't work and you need to find workarounds, do you have any examples to back that up?

I don't know the current status but Discord didn't work right and there was no Google Drive support. These are hardly the only things just the most common ones I recall from the initial launch. I'm also not sure any kernel level anti cheats work at all still.

It really doesn't matter what doesn't work, but if anything expected doesn't work and it's something that always has the device is probably going back. This will of course keep getting better over time, but a bad experience is a bad experience.

 

[Elusive Ruse]

I don't find that part so hard to believe. I can understand why Intel would want to talk with its biggest customers and partners, during this period of transition & uncertainty, to try and keep them engaged. Plus, she didn't say she had talked to them herself. She could be relaying what she's been told by the sales & marketing folks. So, that aspect sounds plausible enough, to me.

My comment was half tongue-in-cheek but the way she worded it sounded like even she wasn’t so confident about it but said it anyway knowing that the overwhelming majority of all people who heard about the interview had no way of fact checking her claim.

 

[Conor Stewart]

I don't know the current status but Discord didn't work right and there was no Google Drive support. These are hardly the only things just the most common ones I recall from the initial launch. I'm also not sure any kernel level anti cheats work at all still.

It really doesn't matter what doesn't work, but if anything expected doesn't work and it's something that always has the device is probably going back. This will of course keep getting better over time, but a bad experience is a bad experience.

Discord and Google drive desktop programs both work fine and even if they didn't those are two examples that you can mostly just use the websites for.

How many people who buy these type of devices do you think need to deal with kernel level anti cheat? For the most part people don't buy these for gaming.

Do you have any actual up to date examples of common programs that don't work that you didn't just read off of an article?

I think you overestimate people as well. Unless something is absolutely essential and they can't use the device without it then they will probably just find another way. For the vast majority of people who use these devices there will be no real compatibility issues.

 

[thestryker]

Discord and Google drive desktop programs both work fine and even if they didn't those are two examples that you can mostly just use the websites for.

How many people who buy these type of devices do you think need to deal with kernel level anti cheat? For the most part people don't buy these for gaming.

Do you have any actual up to date examples of common programs that don't work that you didn't just read off of an article?

I think you overestimate people as well. Unless something is absolutely essential and they can't use the device without it then they will probably just find another way. For the vast majority of people who use these devices there will be no real compatibility issues.

I'm not sure what your deal is and why you're going out of your way to defend Windows on Arm. It's going to have compatibility problems and no amount of hand waving will make that go away. This is also something that will keep getting better over time. Whether or not it's a problem will depend entirely on use case.

A lot of e-sports type titles are very light and can easily work on integrated graphics. It's becoming more common for these to have kernel level anti cheat. It's not unreasonable for someone to expect to be able to hop into a quick game.

Here have a crowdsourced list of working and not: https://windowsonarm.org/

 

[dCasualGamer]

Is the return rate actually confirmed? It seems like Intel is trying to make it sound worse than it is.

It probably has some truth in it. I knew at least 2 peoples who walked in the local Best Buy (the electronic stores for those not in the US) and bought the laptops that were placed at the entrance. Not being tech-savvy, they just bought the Snapdragon laptop, one for himself and another bought it for his teenager kid. They returned the Snapdragon laptop after Black Friday because the games won't run and some other SW compatibility problem (sorry, i did not hold an interview with them to get every details).. But the short response is that they didn't know that ARM on Windows have its limitations.

 

[Steve Nord_]

Is the return rate actually confirmed? It seems like Intel is trying to make it sound worse than it is.

This is a special points-for-whinging Co-Presidency public statement, which only works when there's a co-president who somehow isn't partner to <<all the agreements and licensing of ARM Intel does>>. Try it at CES and see if they refund your booth, Co-President!

 

[Steve Nord_]

My comment was half tongue-in-cheek but the way she worded it sounded like even she wasn’t so confident about it but said it anyway knowing that the overwhelming majority of all people who heard about the interview had no way of fact checking her claim.

Even better: oops, we figured out how to game the resellers, there are 7000 returns tagged #no_AVX512 #Crysis_Crashes nao.

(Probs not, since it's in mid-Nov platform patches with AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA, and F16C. Do you even have to reboot the Qualcommianite fondleslab?)