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The desktop laptop market have way mast maturity. I believe we are literally at the beginning of LP-HTPC. Small form factor, low power, no noise, powerful mini computers. And just like any growth market the leaders are not past the cloud. Will wait in the sidelines with my Pi till I see it stabilising.
I think Intel know that the future is power efficiency. I read an article where Lenova the biggest PC vendor in the world made more profit on their smartphone business than their PC business. Where theirs profit competition will flourish and performance will go up and price will go down. So Intel wants a piece of the bigger pie.
I also believe that just like Intel's NUC we will start to see other vendors make a product for this market, similar to the tablet market. So ARM vs Intel who do you think will win, considering Intel have a factor of a magnitude more resources than ARM, it will be a good fight. And how long will it take for market maturity.
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nickr
Retired Team-Kodi Member
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Linux on ARM shows great promise, but the market is very fragmented and licensing through SOC manufacturers is problematic.
x86 (or Intel as you call it) has the advantage that whatever will run on Intel processors will run on AMD processors. That makes them ubiquitous.
Haswell etc is making power consumption less of a worry on x86.
ARM will probably win the power consumption stakes, but x86 will win the processing power stakes, and a HTPC requires processing power more than efficiency. Especially bearing in mind the increased processing needs of "just around the corner" technologies like h.265. Yes there will be ARM SoCs with inbuilt h265 decoding, but will it be accessible to open source programs like XBMC? Who knows?
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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I started to write a lengthy response yesterday,..but then got distracted.
Anywho,...the gist of what I was writing is that generally computer makers try to sustain a price point for some period of time.
As an example, the price point years ago for a new computer was ~$2,000
That price held for about a year and during that time, they'd add new features or a slightly bigger drive, rather than drop the price.
Now, in regards to power efficiency,...keep in mind there's a "point of diminishing return".
Meaning,...they can only miniaturize things so far,.....and then you begin to lose functionality.
If you're looking for something powerful like an A10 or an i7 in a 2"X2" box,...well,..it ain't gonna happen any time soon.
Even the tiny boxes need a power brick that's sometimes bigger than the unit itself.
My point being this,....there always has to be some "give and take" with computers (electronics).
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I think the next gen Atom is going to be something to watch if it does have the Intel HD GPU.
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Celeron 847 is the start of the revolution. Foxconn has a C847 mini-PC for $150. I can put one together in a nice case for under $200. It blows the doors off AMD E-350, Atom D2550 and any ARM system. And -- it works!
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I'm sad because theirs so much to choose from. Going to have to delve in reserach. Thanks Dougie for the titbits. Seems like Arm is going to have to up its antic. Pretty sure Google will try their best to keep arm relevant. Unless they make android for x86 architecture, wow can they do that? Better question, will they do that once Intel is competing or dare I say leading the efficiency race in the not to distant future..
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@ Kibje LOL I think history has showed us that with a finalised product with multiple hardware attached and a new operating sysytem can only done with the big boys. Everyone else comes and goes. *COUGH* Ouya. Ned Ouya are not going to make money of XBMC. no revenue. Yes its awesome for us but not for a corporate buisness...they're all the same
"were part of the community and want to do this for you"
year down the line
"please Sir do you have any change"
Ouya can sing all the praises they want and sell a few more Units. Give Amazon and Google 3 more months.
Ouya my a$$ LOL
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I agree,....although I was hopeful for Ouya,....it looks (to me) like a flash in the pan.
These devices are coming out fast and furious, and it seems that Ouya had its flash when they showcased their product on Kickstarter.
It seems to have fizzled out now. Again, my perception.
