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…

PU—is that Jon’s dream machine?

Posted by Jon Peddie on March 26th 2007 | Permalink
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I just spent three exciting days at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco. I got to see many things that were publicly available and a few that were being shown privately and not quite ready to go public. We are in for the time of our lives. Nvidia can be credited with bringing the notion of cinematic effects to computer games. Whether or not it was realized, Nvidia certainly introduced the concept and the terminology, and it has since been copied and exploited by others. Beautiful pictures and games in real time, realistically rendered, are now something that we can…

Everyone wants to be Steve Jobs—cool and in control

Posted by Jon Peddie on February 26th 2007 | Permalink
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Steve Jobs, whom I have only met once and then very briefly, is in a sense one of my heroes. He gets that dubious accolade for two reasons—he takes no prisoners, and he is uncompromising on quality and ease of use. When I’m asked by a client what I think of his or her new design, if it seems obvious to me that it’s not addressing the user very well, I ask, “What would Steve do?” It has a remarkable effect—people know immediately what they should do, or what they shouldn’t have done. Then for various and mysterious reasons they don’t…

Is it easy to use?

Posted by Jon Peddie on January 29th 2007 | Permalink
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I love Apple computers, but they sure are a fussy thing to use, and not nearly as efficient as a PC, requiring several clicks and mousing around to do things that can be done in a couple of clicks and little to no mousing on a PC. The UI is delightful, and very entertaining, but after the novelty of it wears off and you have real work to do, the Apple becomes an obstacle not an aid. The lack of a second mouse button and the ability to click within menus is a case in point. At first I thought I was…