Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 01:53:02 -0500, George Macdonald wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 10:46:01 -0500, Robert Myers <rmyers1400@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 17:12:32 -0500, George Macdonald
>><fammacd=!SPAM^nothanks@tellurian.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 08:11:24 -0500, Robert Myers <rmyers1400@comcast.net>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>
>><snip>
>>
>>>>
>>>>Brands are very, very expensive, but every marketer wants a
>>>>recognizable brand, and whether a brand is "recognizable" or not may
>>>>depend on how you ask the question. Look at enough notebooks and
>>>>notebook ads with the Centrino logo, and the brand becomes
>>>>recognizable, if only from the distinctive shape of the logo--that's
>>>>why really good graphics designers make so much. To the prospective
>>>>buyer, that logo becomes a feature they want to have, even if they
>>>>don't know why (cf. Corinthian leather).
>>>
>>>Was (fine) Corinthian Leather really all that successful?
>>
>>Corinthian Leather was successful enough to get a writeup in the Wall
>>Street Journal, and Chrysler stuck with the ad campaign through many
>>millions of dollars. I think that campaign was well into the focus
>>group era. Did it sell cars? Would I be spending time here if I
>>_really_ knew the answer to questions like that? ;-).
>
> Figures... all Chrysler had going for it by then was err, seats! Focus
> group era? Did that correspond with what was known as the "pussification"
> of American industry?
Did you drive a Chrysler of that era? A new name for the hyde of the
rare Nalga was by far the best thing they had going.
>>>Most people
>>>don't know what Centrino is anyway - it's generally perceived as
>>>meaning an Intel CPU... with a possible assocation with long battery
>>>life.
>>>
>>>
>>But it doesn't matter. It's a feature. The feature, you argue, is
>>poorly correlated in the minds of potential buyers with actual benefits,
>>but that doesn't matter if it's a feature people want.
>>
>>If I'm not mistaken, full Centrino is more expensive than Pentium-M+855
>>Chipset+OEM-supplied wireless. The OEM is buying the ad campaign, not
>>the functionality.
>
> The pricing of non-Centrino Wi-Fi wasn't much different about a year
> ago... though I don't bother to look beyond Thinkpads much. Currently,
> there's very little competitive offerings that I see; IBM has a very few
> Thinkpads with "IBM 11b/g Wireless", which may be Cisco parts(?),
The drivers for my IBM 11/a/b/g cardbus card have a name on them I've
never heard (and don't remember). I decided to pass on the R50 they were
trying to push on me, so I don't know what the hardware in there is/was.
> in
> their top end systems but also in a couple of lower end systems. IOW if
> you wanted to avoid Centrino now, it'd be kinda difficult but the price
> is not much different, from what I see.
The ThinkPads I've looked (a small slice of ones on sale, perhaps) at
weren't Centrinos. They were all Pentium-Ms.
>>>>To turn the question around: how much market clout do you think an AMD
>>>>logo has?
>>>
>>>If you watch F1 or the Tour de France... maybe? How much clout does
>>>Lance have in the U.S.?<shrug>
>>
>>Why would an American spend his time riding a bicycle in _France_? Real
>>men don't ride bicycles, they don't wear shorts like that, they don't
>>spend time in France or, if forced to do so, don't advertise it, and
>>they don't use AMD processors.
>
> Uh-huh - "real men" sit around drinking beer, watching steroid-induced
> monsters in heavily padded clothing trying to beat each other to death?
> They go to the gym 3 times a week but don't ask them to walk two blocks
> to get there.
🙂
Speaking of which, I gotta stock the fridge for the festivities tonight.
What's Vegas have to say about a Harrison "wardrome malfunction"?
>> People who ride bicycles, wear
>>shorts like that, spend time in France, and/or use AMD processors
>>probably spend their spare time playing weird computer games.
>
> Something about the shorts that I've missed?
🙂 Ever watch
> Paris-Roubaix? Now these are the *real* hard men.
No, but if it's anything like Paris-Hilton, I can believe it. ;-)
--
Keith