Intel Hopes to Transform Home Media
Personal computer makers have long eyed the living room as the next frontier, hoping to revolutionize the way people watch movies, listen to music and record their favorite TV shows.
Persuading people to stick computers in their TV cabinets has been another story: So-called entertainment PCs account for just 3% of U.S. sales.
But the industry’s drive to transform home entertainment may get a major boost Saturday when PCs with new innards from Intel Corp. go on sale.
The Intel chipsets -- basically, chips and circuitry with specific functions that support the main microprocessor -- take the place of a variety of add-on equipment that otherwise would cost hundreds of dollars.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel, the world’s biggest chip maker, hopes the technology will usher in a new generation of PCs that help people manage their growing libraries of digital photos, music, games and videos.
“This is the most ambitious and significant makeover of the PC platform in more than a decade,” Bill Siu, vice president of Intel’s desktop group, said Thursday.
It’s also an indication that chip makers may be reaching a point of diminishing returns with their microprocessors. After decades of enticing customers to buy each new generation of faster, more expensive chips, the industry is now emphasizing overall PC performance rather than sheer chip speed.
Chipsets are like a PC’s central nervous system. They direct the flow of information between the microprocessor, or brain, and other components such as the screen and the ports that connect to printers, digital cameras and music players.
“They’re like traffic cops inside the PC,” said Shane Rau, a semiconductor analyst with technology market researcher IDC. “Without the chipset, nothing moves.”
Intel’s two chipsets -- with the code names Grantsdale and Alderwood -- deliver better high-definition video and audio playback, including theater-like SurroundSound 7.1. They also offer more lifelike animation for game enthusiasts and make it easier to share music, photos and video over wireless networks.
Computer makers such as Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. and Poway, Calif.-based Gateway Inc. are counting on the backing of Intel to build a stronger market for their entertainment PCs, which are typically more expensive than standard desktop machines.
“The technologies will make it pretty intriguing for the consumer market,” said Ken Loyd, Gateway’s director of product marketing. Because the chipsets replace hardware and software, Loyd said, they allow for “a lower-priced system configuration, and is a much better user experience out of the box.”
Loyd wouldn’t describe Gateway’s PCs using the new chipsets, which will be available this summer. He said some of them would be entertainment PCs, which typically are designed to look more like stereo components than computers.
Even so, they have yet to infiltrate living rooms or dens in big numbers, said San Jose-based technology consultant Rob Enderle. But the new chipsets should help sales.
“They will increase the overall media performance of the box, and do it at a lower price,” Enderle said. “If you can get a premium experience at a value price there’s a stronger case to buy these machines, which is what Intel is hoping for.”
Several computer makers, including Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Compaq brand, will introduce smaller desktops using the chipsets. Dell plans a computer a bit larger than a phone book suspended behind a flat-panel monitor.
Computer makers and Intel wouldn’t discuss pricing for either the chipsets or the computers using them, saying that will come Saturday when Grantsdale and Alderwood are officially launched.
The chipsets use a technology called PCI Express, which improves the 12-year-old “peripheral connect interface” that controls how microprocessors communicate with graphics cards. Among other things, that allows for multiple videoconferencing screens to show up on a single PC monitor.
In PCs with the new chipsets, “you’ll get more full-motion video and smoother, more uninterrupted audio over broadband connections at home,” IDC’s Rau said.
An optional card available later this year will allow a Grantsdale-equipped PC to broadcast the Internet wirelessly in a home, in effect turning the desktop itself into a wireless “hotspot” beaming the Internet to other computers.
Intel dominates the microprocessor market, with an 80% share worldwide. Thursday’s announcement drew a puzzled comment from Intel’s main competitor, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
“It’s an odd way for a microprocessor company -- to lead with a chipset rather than a processor,” said Jeff Lowe, AMD’s desktop marketing manager.”
AMD, Lowe said, would focus on computer logic and memory chips, and “let others do what they do really well” with audio and video cards. “It’s about leveraging who does what best.”
