Q3 graphics shipments up 16.7% over last quarter18.4% over last year

Posted by Jon Peddie on October 31st 2011 | Permalink
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Shipments during the third quarter of 2011 did (finally) behave according to past years with regard to seasonality, and was higher on a year-to-year comparison for the quarter. 2011 is still an unusual year for the PC and graphics suppliers as businesses take their own path to recovery. The third quarter of the year is usually the growth quarter and was this year which is a positive sign looking forward. The growth in Q3 comes as a welcome change,—is it inventory building for the holiday season. The quarter in general This quarter, Intel celebrated its seventh quarter of embedded processor graphics…

Are you entertained?

Posted by Jon Peddie on December 8th 2010 | Permalink
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We continue to be fascinated with moving pictures that come to us through the ether. When TV was first conceived either as a scientific idea or a science fiction idea is debated (and Mark Schubin has a great discussion about it at Schubin Café. Names like Téléphonoscopique telectroscope, and telephonoscope were used in the late 1870s to describe the concept because the word television wouldn’t be introduced until 1900. Our current fascination with TV is the Internet, and small mobile devices. I share the same fascination about TV and its ubiquity, rivaling now books and recorded music as an old method…

Opportunities, Threats, and Changes Created by the EPG & HPU

Posted by Jon Peddie on September 13th 2010 | Permalink
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A genuine inflection point is occurring in the PC and related industries, the integration of powerful SIMD graphics processing elements with multi-core, multi-stage scalar X86 CPUs. In so doing the stalwart and ubiquitous IGP – integrated graphics processor, will fade out of existence. Because the graphics processor unit, GPU, grew in greater complexity than the CPU during the past eight years, exceeding the transistor count, and matching or exceeding the die size of the CPU, many thought the two would never be able to cohabitate. And given that level of complexity, power and cooling demands, and the faster cadence of GPU…

The Future of Embedded Graphics

Posted by Jon Peddie on October 27th 2009 | Permalink
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Executive Summary This report covers the development of the market for CPUs with embedded graphics and their impact on integrated chip sets and discrete graphics. After fifteen years of stellar growth the IGP will cease to exist, replaced by embedded graphics in the processor. Integrated graphics are used in desktop and net top PCs, notebooks, and netbooks, as well as various embedded systems such as point of sale, set-top boxes, and signage systems. However, this will not, as many believe, impact the discrete graphics and add-in board market. And, because of the long-life supply agreements on some integrated graphics chips in…

The Next Console

Posted by Jon Peddie on May 19th 2008 | Permalink
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At dinner the other night, I was asked by some friends from the University of Illinois what I thought the next game console would be like. I told them I didn’t think there would be a next game console. I waited for them to decide if I should be physically removed or if they wanted to hear more. They chose more, but cautiously. I noticed the security guards moving closer. The problem is Moore’s law, form factor, programming tools, and the exception is a new form of entertainment. Moore’s law Moore’s law provides a constant improvement for PCs, allowing them to…

How important are discrete graphics to most consumers?

Posted by Jon Peddie on May 5th 2008 | Permalink
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Aren’t IGPs really good enough? As a result of the FUD war kicked up by Intel, people are asking about the value and importance of an AIB. “I know if I did a quick poll of friends and family,” said one wag, “very few would care or even know whether they had a graphics chip in their PCs though most would know they have Intel inside.” As we have discussed elsewhere in this issue, IGPs are not a threat to performance graphics. However, there are some additional points that are worth mentioning. Look at this: Discrete Desktop ($M) Q4’07 Q3’07 Q4’06…

Observations of the website wannabes, and advanced PC game systems

Posted by Jon Peddie on February 25th 2008 | Permalink
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Imitation is the sincerest of flattery—Charles Caleb Colton So what does it mean when a game developer or a movie company copies their own thing with a sequel—that they are flattering themselves? It seems we humans to like to mimic, maybe that's how we learn. And yet some of the learning of just a few years ago seems to already be forgotten, or maybe never known. Take for example this week's story on Demo, the showcase conference held yearly in Palm Desert. We only printed a few of the stories of the show, but there was a disturbing and sad common…

On evaluating graphics boards

Posted by Jon Peddie on December 5th 2007 | Permalink
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Almost anyone one reading this has at one time in his or her life tried to evaluate a graphics board. You ever wonder what goes into doing such an evaluation? Have you ever wondered why you should care? Who needs a graphics board evaluated? The most logical answer would be the prospective buyer of a graphics board. After all, he or she would like to know if they are going to get value for their money, or just a logo. With that assumption, the next question is who are these people who may be in the market for a graphics board…

And reminds me of my dirty fingernails

Posted by Jon Peddie on May 21st 2007 | Permalink
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 I hate those surprise IQ tests; I never do well on them. You know, the ones where you have to figure out how to open a plastic box specially designed to be more convenient, or worse yet, childproof. I got a new phone the other day and it took me five minutes to find the On button. Vista is the same way. It takes precious seconds trying to find commonly used things, and why? No good reason, just because some GUI designer thought a button should be moved. One nice feature of Vista is it shuts down and boots up fast—at…

The Practicality Gap

Posted by Jon Peddie on April 9th 2007 | Permalink
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Convergence has taken a long time, first being discussed in the mid eighties, due to over ambition, false starts, and insufficient technology. Kathleen Maher has looked at situations like this over the past twenty years and developed an insightful and helpful tool she calls the Practicality Gap. Briefly Maher has discovered that all new products in the high-tech industry begin life as a promising new technology, and when that technology is introduced it can often be buoyed by unrealistic expectations. But let’s just say that this doesn’t have to be the result of exuberant marketing. Instead, we believe it’s reasonable to…