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Loading ...Is Intel being too aggressive for its own good?
Clive Webster
The next few months will see Intel release an avalanche of products, but there are so many that even the notorious Intel marketing machine can’t keep up. We were less than impressed with the lack of information flowing from Intel about the P35 chipset while reviewing the Asus P5K Deluxe and even more surprised when a new Pentium CPU turned up on Aria with absolutely no fanfare (or comment as to why the brand had been re-introduced, at time of writing) from Intel at all. This from a company which had the marketing power to foist NetBurst Pentium 4s and Pentium Ds on the world for years in surprisingly large quantities.
The reason for the lack of hyperbole is fairly clear: Intel just has too many products lined up to give the full PR and marketing treatment to every one. We expect the 1,333MHz FSB Core 2 Duos in the next month or so, quickly followed by the X38 chipset which should not only be fast but also possibly support both CrossFire and SLI. Then we’ll see the 45nm Penryn-based CPUs which should add anywhere from 1 to 1.5GHz to current Core 2 Duo clock speeds. And after that we’ll get the Intel eight-core SkullTrail platform and then Nehalem-based CPUs with integrated memory controllers and other awesome new features. Phew! No wonder Intel is picking and choosing which products to push.
But while more products will give us consumers more choice, this slew of products is bad news for Intel – it’s being over-aggressive. Who’s going to buy a 1,333MHz FSB Core 2 Duo with Penryn just around the corner? Not me. And investing in a P35 motherboard with X38 just a couple of months off also looks like a bold decision, despite the skill with which Asus uses it in the P5K Deluxe.
You might say that this has always been the case with PC hardware: there’s never a good time to invest because there’s always something good coming soon after - you may as well take the plunge now. However I can’t remember product families ever being released as close together as those outlined above, and so the usual maxim ‘you pays your money and takes your choice’ has never been so weak. With the feasibility of leapfrogging product families entirely while upgrading - and not having to suffer performance lag while doing so - Intel could see a big profit hit.
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