Clock Race is Over

What this note is
about : About product names
About a mass buyer
About AMD's marketing strategy
About why Apple has only three lines of laptops

Remember the days when you went to the store, compared the clock speeds of two systems and chose the right machine? Everything else didn't matter. The hard drive could be updated, the RAM could be increased, only the clock speed could not be changed. 1.8 GHz has always been better than 1.5 GHz. Right?

Nowadays, everything is different. Moore's Lawthat “the number of transistors on a chip will double every 24 months” no longer works, which is why multi-core processors appeared on the consumer electronics market. When there are several cores in a system, the clock speed no longer matters. The marking of the quad-core processor “2.5 GHz” indicates that the chip has four cores and the clock frequency of each is 2.5 GHz. However, it is very naive to believe that we get a theoretical performance of 10 GHz.

AMD, and now Intel to some extent, is abandoning the concept when the main characteristic of the processor is the clock speed itself and, apparently, this year will be a turning point. Take a look at the AMD Vision page. The new idea of ​​naming is based on what tasks a particular system is optimal for. For example, Vision Premium Series devices are a great choice for:

• Work with multiple applications simultaneously
• Mainstream games
• Convert CD to MP3
• Basic photo editing features
• Watch Blu-ray / HD Video
• Using webcam

If you further click on the “Show me Vision Premium Laptops” button (show me laptops of the Vision Premium category), a list of computers of completely different power and configuration will be shown. It is understood that if the laptop is on the Vision list, then it is automatically recognized as not bad. The only thing that matters in this case is the price. If you pay more, then you get more. If there is a desire to modify the hardware, then the only change that will affect the price is a change in the amount of RAM and hard disk. As a rule, the processor and video adapter will remain the same.

Such a system seems more logical and convenient. Now to the question, “Which laptop should I buy?” You can easily give an answer like: “Now, choose the most attractive one and go to the cash register”. Whether we like it or not, but this happens, IT industry products go through the process of commoditization, turning into a mass product.

It may sound like a joke, but just look around. In the courtyard of the 2010th year. The growth rate of computing power is slowing down. When the iPad and its analogues in functionality can be compared with the monster-like gaming laptops Alienwarewhat speed can one reason about? A modern mass buyer asks the question “Can you watch video on this computer?” Or “Can you play on it?” And you answer “Well, this system has a processor with a clock frequency of 2 GHz, a discrete graphics card and 4 GB of RAM ... yes, you can play on it and watch the video. ” Nobody wants to go into numbers and obscure terms. Suffice it to say, “Is the computer running Windows 7? Yes, most likely, some good games will be played on it. ” There are thousands of different games, and most of them will work on a modern computer. Do you need ultimate performance? Build the system yourself or go to the Vision Black section. The choice is yours and now this choice is even easier to make.

It would be great if Intel developed a similar range for its processors. Segmentation of the product line into several simple blocks will allow you to get rid of worthless complexity and, ultimately, allow the consumer to make their own choices, simplify the process of this choice. This is the answer to the question why Apple, after so many years on the market, has only a few models of MacBooks. For comparison, remember the same Asus EEE, for which it is time to release a separate directory.

Article by CrunchGear Chef, John Biggs