Marketing tricks.. why you shouldn'nt beleive everything...

pat

Expert
I wasnt sure if that was the right place to post that, but.. after seeing all that anticipation about Conroe, I thought it could be a good idea to inform casual users (not fanboy, as there is nothing that can be done about them..) that might get misinformed by some marketing information published.

I was happy to read about new Intel instant on feature. After all, who like to wait for a system to boot? This feature was announced with Viiv technology from Intel. It would allow the unit to power on instantly, ready to be used in seconds, instead of minute. I was hoping to see that happening on normal desktop unit too, after a while..

But..there is a catch..

Intel cheats at "instant-off/instant-on"

I don't want to bash Intel here.. everybody does it. But this exemple actually interrested me, as it was something that I was waiting to see as I like mediacenter devices and that kind of trick would have been a nice add-on to any mediacenter unit. Well.. I now go back to regular sleep and stop dreaming. This is a scam.. Any programmer can assign a key to do that on any system.. But, that is not what I was waiting for.. and that "technology" already exist...

So, you all read Conroe benchmark review. Or AM2 specs... Don't believe aything until you have the facts in your face. And don't hold your breath over new products that still have to be on the shelf.. you may end up with the nicest girl in town in your bed only to discover that she's a he...
 
I would like to add "Centrino" to this list. Essentially you are just paying a premimum for a select brand - or combination of brands.

the price-points they have chosen for the Centrino components does not indicate quality as much as it indicates how badly the OEM wants you to buy Centrino instead of the brand they have chosen to provide by default. This is clearly a business decision, not a technical one.
Dissecting Intel's Centrino hype @ zdnet

So I went with a Celeron-M and my wallet was happier.
 

kamel5547

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"Centrino" drives me nuts, around christmas every sales person at BB and CC were saying tis got a "Centrino" processor, and I would ask them what is a "Centrino" processor knowing the answer would either be "It's a Centrino" or the actual answer "Pentium-M", I swear anyone who didn't know would have assumed there was an actual processor called "Centrino" and gotten stuck with the higher prices they were charging. Marketing is great when sales represents the term to mean something that it doesn't ;).
 

KWH

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"you may end up with the nicest girl in town in your bed only to discover that she's a he.."

I hope you don't speak from experiance :oops:
I've been drunk enough(when I was much younger)for just about anything to happen, so glad it didn't......I think...... :wink:
 

pat

Expert
"you may end up with the nicest girl in town in your bed only to discover that she's a he.."

I hope you don't speak from experiance :oops:
I've been drunk enough(when I was much younger)for just about anything to happen, so glad it didn't......I think...... :wink:

No.. I did not have (happily) to live that to learn..

Anyway. As far as Centrino is concerned, if the initial concept was a great idea, now, it worth nothing. The idea behing was something nice for real mobile user. having more computer for longer time. Centrino was supposed to be an ensemble of part, not only a processor. Now as other mentionned, you can have Centrino processor.. But the name Centrino itself does now mean something and can fool simple users.. At first, you could have a "centrino" processor, a "centrino" chipset, but if your video was NOT centrino, then the centrino sticker could not be put on the system. Now...

Anyway, my point is, marketing alone can do more harm than good. Company should know that. But they rather continue to mislead their customers. Fanboyism help to keep them alive too.. No one would be a winner from bad marketing.

Now, did someone can have a nice instant on/off system that really work rather than a software switch that simply activate screen blanker and soud muting?
 

smartel7070

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Wow Intel is really on a roll ...... their procs are getting beat by AMD (I'm talking about the present here, not 6 months from now) and they think that renaming old technology like stand-by will put them back in the game. They should really review the r&d departement because if Intel keeps this up instead of developping NEW and exciting tech well 10 years from now there will be no more AMD vs Intel war as Intel will be out of the market with only themselves to blame.
 

pat

Expert
a real trick would be copyrighting that technology and name, then charging everyone for it that uses it...

so everytime we mute the sound, we will have to pay intel royalties... 8O

Same thing when the screen blanker get activated... :? :?

really miss my Commodore 64 day.. real instant on/off computer..
 
Thats weird, my AMD system had, and thats an old Socket A system. Its called Stand By.

Hahahaha! Nice.

It's funny, as I was reading the article, the thought occured to me, "Hmmm, this seems like the hibernate mode on my laptop...."

I guess not only did Intel learn something from Apple's marketing but also Microsoft's.

Maybe we'll get to see more of the Blue Man Group advertising ViiV...my favorite Blue Man is David Cross from Fox's Arrested Development!!!!
 

pat

Expert
As far as benchmark goes, well, it still something that should be carefully selected as a means to evaluate performance, as shown here, about how Intel compiler can be set to advantage Intel CPU and not the competition.

Is that acceptable? I don't think so. because, not only competition is loosing, but everybody.

My point is, if the product is really superior, then you should not have to use those scam and dishonest trick to show the superiority of your products.

So, is intel Conroe really faster than AMD offer? Or if AMD was running some crippled code?

Just wait and see by ourself, it is all that I can say!
 

jap0nes

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do you remember microsoft's "on now" techonolgy? that was like... around 1998/99.. they were claiming that your computer would be ready to use seconds after you power on
i think processor industry uses pretty much the same marketing technique
 

pat

Expert
do you remember microsoft's "on now" techonolgy? that was like... around 1998/99.. they were claiming that your computer would be ready to use seconds after you power on
i think processor industry uses pretty much the same marketing technique

I vaguely remember agout it, but at this time, instant on feature was not something I was looking for.

There is nothing wrong about talking about what's will come next, but company should not take customers for idiots. Right now, Intel looks much more idiot with its supposed high tech feature with cool name that is a simple stand-by state with a new name. Just like Microsoft, but at least, the use Standby, instead of new name..

Maybe this was already registered so Intel has to come up with something else..


I'm sure that it could be possible, with the use of some other memory and a new BIOS to make this possible. When you push the instant on/off button, the OS and currentt running application are protected in memory, and the BIOS take control of the system, using the extra memory to store pointer and register value. Then, it shut down the video card, the HDD but keep minimal power for RAM.

On resume, BIOS simply move register value cack to the CPU and resume the operation. While not quite instant on, this would be more faster. But I guess is it harder for engineer to come up with newer desing that newer name..
 
Yes, I know.
A large collection of machinery breathes hydrogen and drinks vegetable oil. It metabolizes it in a high-temperature digestive tract containing metals like nickel and aluminum.
Ooozing out of the machine's rectum comes margarine, shortening, and other trans-fats.

So, eating the stuff is essentially eating machine poo.

You won't find it in animal feeds, by the way, because it sickens and kills them. Only humans are foolish enough to eat this industrial waste.
A chunk of margarine won't even grow mold, because it's not food.

Bon appetit!
 

WINDSHEAR

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Yes, I know.
A large collection of machinery breathes hydrogen and drinks vegetable oil. It metabolizes it in a high-temperature digestive tract containing metals like nickel and aluminum.
Ooozing out of the machine's rectum comes margarine, shortening, and other trans-fats.

So, eating the stuff is essentially eating machine poo.

You won't find it in animal feeds, by the way, because it sickens and kills them. Only humans are foolish enough to eat this industrial waste.
A chunk of margarine won't even grow mold, because it's not food.

Bon appetit!

I couldn't agree more!
 

pat

Expert
isnt this that suspend to ram stuff?

Could be, but it should have some minimal system running, like timer event or other that would be fired up at certain instant. I read something about STR not being reliable enough for this task.. but maybe I'm wrong

But anyway, New system should have more better BIOS with more option and safer update process.