My HTPC and my daughter's workstation were also DIY builds and they've worked out very well. HTPC is i5 SNB and workstation is i7 IVB. Both have SSDs.

Hope this one goes as well. Not looking forward to days (weeks?)of data recovery however.

gb

Well Intel and its distributors got some of my money after all this holiday season. My hand-me-down 5 year old Dell desktop crapped out last night. I've removed power and removed the hard drive which still appears to have at least some of the data intact.

So Newegg is now processing my order for a HSW I7-4771, and all the trimmings to go with it including a SSD, wireless, MB; all Intel.

I tried to configure one at Dell and HP sites: no joy at all at Dell, closer at HP but would have been slower, more power and more expensive...probably louder as well.

I bit the bullet and went for Win8.1. I figure I have to support my wife on her notebook anyway and spending more time with Win8.1 will make me more familiar. Not looking forward to that...

Santa will be breaking out his screwdriver this coming weekend.

gb

Though the move to 14-nanometer production comes along with a 27% increase in wafer processing costs, the size of Intel chips–and ergo the cost of making each chip–will fall 29%, he said.

The cost per chip “is going down more than the capital intensity is going up,” Smith said, suggesting Intel’s profit margins should not suffer because of heavy capital spending. “This is the economic beauty of Moore’s Law.”

We occasionally eat at Applebees and have seen these tablets at each table. I've watched closely and never seen anyone purchase food using them. We've never ordered from them either.

I'm not sure what they're trying to achieve.

gb

There is more than one way to get the desired performance/power on some benchmark. However those choices are significantly narrowed when targeting available processes. I suspect Apple and Intel made their choices based on process tech. Intel has a long history of this. Apple likely took their path based on knowing TSMC wouldn't deliver anything better than 28nm in high volume.

Apple has the luxury (so far) of relatively long product life. I doubt they can make the next phone on 28nm and remain competitive. They must be sweating bullets on 20nm test chips by now as they would have had to largely freeze their next design in expectation.

gb

Santa's phone and tablet choices:

Phone: iPhone 5S. No new learning required. Size is appropriate. Screen nice. Android is yet another thing to learn for wife and daughter. Yet another OS is not welcome in light of all of life's challenges. Win phone never a considered.

Tablet: This is for wife and she hated our attempts to do something useful with Win8 tablets on display even though she has and uses a Win8 laptop. Android not welcome as something new to learn. Result is iPad Air is the choice due to ease of use and similarity to iPhone.

Net: Apple is much more familiar to this family than the latest from MSFT. Santa is getting three iPhone 5S and an iPad Air. Intel is getting nothing. Not good for Intel in light of our 30 years of Intel experience.

Obviously price is not a consideration here for us. We keep these sort of items for 3 or 4 years. The price difference to alternatives divided over those years amounts to nothing compared to grief incurred.

gb

Lived in Methuen briefly after college, then moved to
Salem, Derry and finally to Hollis. Totaled 20 years.

Nice area.

Skied Cannon mostly. Excellent conditions there consisted of 2" of fresh powder over a firm base of rocks and beer cans.

Hardscrabble rox!

gb

Thanks for all the input! Great suggestions.

Santa will post what he does.

gb

mmoy: where did you see the NUC?

gb

mmoy:

She is currently using a Nook for reading books. She does read her gmail there but other than that just an occasional game and casual browsing.

She reads a lot judging from her B&N bills. I suspect she will use her Amazon Prime account for reading books from there as well.

So no creation, just reading. She composes 99% of her emails on her Win8 laptop.

Is there a nice "full size ipad" sized Baytrail tablet that rox? I'm guessing Win8 would be somewhat similar on a tablet and the notebook she has. She's not a computer person so commonality would be helpful.

gb

I'd like a suggestion on a tablet...preferably Intel based.

My wife's Nook is dying and I'm not getting another. So a general purpose tablet is on Santa's list.

I have no biases Win8 vs Android but if we can't find something better than full size iPad it is the current default choice.

Please help me avoid buying more AAPL product.

gb

All:

Thanks for the phone input. We're going shopping soon. I'll let you know what we do.

gb

WBMW & Aeassa:

I'm giving up on getting an Intel phone so Santa is going to replace our three iPhone 3Gs with either iPhone 5s or Nexus 5. We're currently on ATT and satisfied with local coverage although I notice when we travel to Michigan to visit family coverage often is very spotty. So a change of carriers may be in the mix as well which may impact phone choice.

I'm not really keen on Android phones with "value added" software but would consider something other than a N5 if it wasn't so slathered. The other reason for a N5 would be to ensure timely android updates.

The reason for the N5 is getting something with a bigger screen. OTOH, the iP5s would be a very easy transition but with the nearly same smallish screen size. Although my wife and I would appreciate a larger screen for our tired eyes my daughter often mentions she'd like a slightly larger screen as well.

Santa would appreciate your input.

gb

AMD WSA take or pay. Could get messy if true:

http://m.barrons.com/articles/BL-TB-41754

Nice slide set:

http://indico.cern.ch/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=slides&confId=278792

IPhi still rulz...

http://allthingsd.com/20131118/the-worlds-most-powerful-supercomputer-is-still-in-china/?reflink=ATD_yahoo_ticker

gb

Kaveri apparently a bit of a disappointment on SemiA.

gb

Although Baytrail, HP loads it with Nvidia Tegrazone as shovelware.

wtfo??

gb

Apple could also act as a rabbit for potential Intel customers. They have in the past implemented features that caught on while the others laid back playing it safe. Once Apple makes it safe for a new tech the others need to scramble to implement.

To catch the rabbit those "safe" folks could implement Intel based android systems in very large numbers with features now made safe by Apple.

gb

there was a small matter of a contractual obligation to hp that prevented earlier disclosure of x86-64...

gb

when is it? the analyst day isn't currently listed on the intc web calendar.

gb

I've been around PCs since the original PCXT that I bought. Then 18 years with Intel kept me pretty tight with what was going on both at Intel and in the industry in general before retiring.

Throughout that time it was easy for me to suggest what my friends should buy once they described their needs and plans.

Today I'm not even close to being in that position and I think a lot of folks may well be confused by the array of choices with no clear leader other than perhaps Apple.

That means that for Intel to clearly take the lead either the market needs to be swamped with Intel choices or a clear and convincing leader needs to hit the market hard with Intel devices.

This is taking waaaay to much time...

gb

Unlike Apple and some others, Intel is not based on rock stars. Dadi was good, there are others.

gb

We have AT&T with three old 3Gs iPhones. Their coverage seems pretty good for most of the places we go and we have an "unlimited" plan with shared minutes/data. So I want to try to continue that if possible. Unfortunately no Goog phones on AT&T site.

We use data while on the road for a variety of uses so a wifi only model for data wouldn't work for us.

AT&T does have the MotoX. I wonder how that compares to Nexus in terms of Android updates, etc.

Of course like many here I'm trying to hold out to see what if any Intel based phones appear in the spring but I can't wait forever.

gb

mmoy

do you have an android phone? if so which one?

thanks

gb

Did AMD indicate if gfx revenue was NRE lump sum or units which might still be lumpy but recurring?

gb

Intel has often done both in the past. Ship cut down or harvested and transition to optimized.

SOP

gb

Edit: if anyone has $7,000 to spend, would you buy the report and give some additional details?

checking couch cushions now...

gb

From my working days at Intel: they have more than one "A-team".

gb

My primary contact with BRCM products are Bluetooth USB thingies.

gb

My wife's Nook Color is heading south. I'm hoping that an Intel based Android replacement becomes available this year. The new Kindle Fire units have her attention now.

Any Android tablet could run either the Amazon or BN app for reading her books.

She uses it mostly for reading books but also reads email and browses the net with it perhaps 10% of the time.

gb

After watching "Process Theater" play out over the last couple of years it's my opinion that all but Intel seem to be doing PR stunts for the most part. The only thing you can trust as an investor from this is volume shipment of real end products. In Intel's case they've shipped 100s of millions of 22nm parts by the end of this year.

Others seem to be visible only at 28nm and in volumes a few percent (generous estimate) of Intel's 22nm.

Making investment decisions on PR stunts at 20 and 16nm is really pathetic.

gb

Nvidia all in.

http://allthingsd.com/20130918/nvidia-looks-to-gain-ground-in-mobile-with-199-tegra-note-its-own-entry-in-crowded-tablet-market/?reflink=ATD_yahoo_ticker

gb

Although the CEO is different it's still the same BOD packed with ex-IBMers.

gb

As I expected AMD is becoming collateral damage as Intel battles ARM. I expect their CFO to be pulling a lot more "levers" (his term) before this time next year.

gb

What??!! No A20 gate??!!

gb

Credit: a term AMD is very familiar with.

gb

Sounds like they're going to become smaller yet.

gb

different market where most of the heavy computation would be done by the GPU

what market would that be?

gb

unless AMD has decided that their whole roadmap will be for embedded they're going to need better products in that time frame than 28nm will allow. that roadmap is signaling a complete exit of the traditional x86 space.

gb