Intel layoffs: More seismic changes to come

[Onkel Neal]

PC sales continue their downward trend

Remember the days when PCs were obsolete in a year and you actually needed newer hardware to run programs? I guess for most people, the lifespan of a PC has grown to 5+ years.

http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-fo...ismic_cha.html

The 12,000 layoffs Intel announced Tuesday are only the beginning of the chipmaker's monumental overhaul.

Intel is preparing to close several of its sites, kill some of its products, and appears to be setting up a two-man contest to succeed chief executive Brian Krzanich as the company transforms itself for the post-PC era.

"Intel's been very, very slow to change," said Jim McGregor, an industry analyst in Arizona who follows the company for Tirias Research. "Now it's catching up with them and it's going to be painful."

Intel faces uphill battle with PC sales down 10%
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/n...n-10/83209940/

“PC shipments dropped below 65 million units for first time since 2007,” said Mark Hung, Gartner’s Intel analyst.

The decline will have a definite impact on Intel’s Q1 earnings, say analysts. But Intel's also been lowering expectations, said Van Hees.

[Aktungbby]

Could we please avoid using 'seismic'; I'm living on top of a fault line and get the jitters! It's not PC!

“Expectations are pretty low,” which is actually a good thing for Intel, said Betsy Van Hees, an analyst with Wedbush Securities.
Intel's guidance for the first quarter of 2016 is revenue of $14.0 billion, with a range of plus or minus $500 million, up from $12.8 billion for the first quarter of 2015.
S&P Global Market Intelligence forecast revenue of $13.826 billion, with adjusted earnings per share of 48 cents, up from 41 cents a year ago.

Intel rules (manipulates?) the seas in the chip/PC trade I don't see a big lo$$ for their bottom-line...

[August]

I'm posting this from a computer I bought in 2005. I've been thinking of buying a new one though.

[Oberon]

Perhaps we're reaching the upper limits of Moores law. Intel did confirm only last year that the rate of progress has slowed slightly, although sales decline due to the economic crunch making people a bit more frugal with their money probably hasn't helped their fortunes much either.
They've still got a sizable portion of the market though, I mean it's between them and AMD really, VIA gets a bit of the market, but Intel and AMD are the heavyweights, and if VR manages to get off the starting blocks properly then there could be a small renaissance for the PC as people seek to build the ultimate VR rig that has the peripherals to put you there. That being said, VR needs to come down to a more accessible price before that happens, so if there is going to be a surge then it's probably not for at least another five to six years.
Certainly though the actual physical Personal Computer is going to be evolving further in the near future, in both technical and non-technical manners, I predict a move into bio-tech for data transmission in the not-to-distant future, and a continuation of the transition of data from the physical hard-drive to the virtual 'cloud', of course that depends a lot on internet connection speed, but there may come a time when you don't even need a physical computer as such as the connection allows you to interact with a powerful gaming computer elsewhere in the world which streams the gaming experience to you based upon your inputs. That could work quite well with VR and take a big load off the public base needing beefy rigs in order to get a good experience.
It requires a lot of infrastructure upgrades though, and is probably going to be something for the next generation, most likely not in our lifetimes...well, maybe at the tail-end of mine.

[Skybird]

Still cannot see how tablets, smartphones and laptops (often been counted as PCs nowadays) could replace desktop stations in many prefessional jobs, studios, and for gamers.

And look at the infantile crap you get as games for Android only.

Modern consoles also are surprisingly narrow in what they have to offer in games.

And then this damn pest, "cloud". The next big thing that Microsoft aims at, Windows 10 will be its last OS, and what a mess it so far is both in quality and features.

Current rig is 6 years old and smoothly runs everything I throw at it, I will likely buy a new one in the coming 12 months.

Problem is not so much technology itself, but our deeply overpaced economic structures and understanding of how economy should be done. Always, newer, always faster, always short intervals. If you race down the autobahn at that speed you cannot avoid it but must hit the pillow of a bridge sooner or later, its inevitable.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Perhaps we're reaching the upper limits of Moores law. Intel did confirm only last year that the rate of progress has slowed slightly, although sales decline due to the economic crunch making people a bit more frugal with their money probably hasn't helped their fortunes much either.
They've still got a sizable portion of the market though, I mean it's between them and AMD really, VIA gets a bit of the market, but Intel and AMD are the heavyweights, and if VR manages to get off the starting blocks properly then there could be a small renaissance for the PC as people seek to build the ultimate VR rig that has the peripherals to put you there. That being said, VR needs to come down to a more accessible price before that happens, so if there is going to be a surge then it's probably not for at least another five to six years.
Certainly though the actual physical Personal Computer is going to be evolving further in the near future, in both technical and non-technical manners, I predict a move into bio-tech for data transmission in the not-to-distant future, and a continuation of the transition of data from the physical hard-drive to the virtual 'cloud', of course that depends a lot on internet connection speed, but there may come a time when you don't even need a physical computer as such as the connection allows you to interact with a powerful gaming computer elsewhere in the world which streams the gaming experience to you based upon your inputs. That could work quite well with VR and take a big load off the public base needing beefy rigs in order to get a good experience.
It requires a lot of infrastructure upgrades though, and is probably going to be something for the next generation, most likely not in our lifetimes...well, maybe at the tail-end of mine.

Agreed but as long as there is some level of demand out there, there will always be a supplier.

[HunterICX]

Hardly a surpise as most people who are a gaming enthusiast build their own PC's instead of going to a shop and buy one that's prebuild and overpriced for what they have to offer and bloated with junkware of the manufacturer. Building your own is easy these days, it's cheaper and you know exactly what's inside the case in case if you wish to swap a part ouf for something better instead of having to buy a whole new PC.

[Commander Wallace]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the deeper infiltration of AMD chips into the mainstream market. I'm thinking it was Rockstar who had said they built a computer with an AMD board along with the accompanying AMD chip that in this case was a 6 core 3.5 GHZ unit. I remember it being said in this forum that it was working very well. If this wasn't Rockstar who built this, my apologies for getting that wrong.

Although Intel are better suited for different tasks than AMD chips, both have their strengths and for the basic user, those lines are very blurred. It seems Intel overly priced their chips and for a great number of users, AMD is a cost effective and attractive alternative to higher priced Intel chips.

[Platapus]

With more and more stuff being online or accessed through browsers, it is not surprising that the technology is lasting longer.

[Tycho]

It's my fault.
My home computer is 7 or 8 years.
On the workplace, I work with three computers. Two are very old single-core and with WinXP, one is dual-core on Win7, but is already 6 years. Will not buy new ones, because old ones dial well with their intended purpose.

[nikimcbee]

I can't wait for karma to catch up with these guys. Can you say H-1B visas?
they are laying off ~12000, which is a drop in the bucket for them. I'm surprised they are still in Kali-fornia,. They should close all that and move to Ore-gone. Most of their R&D is done there, oh wait, the marketing people are running the company....

Intel jumped the shark, when they aligned themselves with Lady Gaga.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the deeper infiltration of AMD chips into the mainstream market. I'm thinking it was Rockstar who had said they built a computer with an AMD board along with the accompanying AMD chip that in this case was a 6 core 3.5 GHZ unit. I remember it being said in this forum that it was working very well. If this wasn't Rockstar who built this, my apologies for getting that wrong.

Although Intel are better suited for different tasks than AMD chips, both have their strengths and for the basic user, those lines are very blurred. It seems Intel overly priced their chips and for a great number of users, AMD is a cost effective and attractive alternative to higher priced Intel chips.

AMD has not made a profit in 4 years.

But this week, their stock jumped 50%+, they have a deal going with China to supply CPUs for their upcoming server industry.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

AMD has not made a profit in 4 years.

But this week, their stock jumped 50%+, they have a deal going with China to supply CPUs for their upcoming server industry.

Zoinks!
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amd...lts-2016-04-22

[nikimcbee]

Meanwhile, back on the farm...
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/b...monday-of.html

progressivism sinking intel?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/intel-exe...143631990.html

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

AMD has not made a profit in 4 years.

But this week, their stock jumped 50%+, they have a deal going with China to supply CPUs for their upcoming server industry.

Originally Posted by AktungBBY

Intel rules (manipulates?) the seas in the chip/PC trade I don't see a big lo$$ for their bottom-line...

JEESE! I wonder who went out and bought AMD stock....