![]() ![]() PCs are not selling, new things like tablets, uber-phones, and widgets are. People don’t want PCs any more, they want something new. Intel made it smaller and at the same time made it more expensive, but they also removed several necessary PC features in order to cram in to a form factor that consumers were simply not asking for. Why was our initial reaction so negative? Price was the big red flag but next up was the fact that it was just a PC in a new box, but it utterly fails to bring anything actually new, much less innovative, to the table. Intel wants to reinvent the PC, but is unwilling to take even the tiniest of steps in the right direction to do so, and NUC is the result. By price we don’t mean simply the retail toll of a NUC system, price also encapsulates silicon cost, BoM cost, Windows overhead, and the margins necessary to keep the big blue silicon machine going. Why? Lots of reasons, price being the most obvious one. It screams Apple envy more than Ultrabooks, but if anything is an even worse idea. If you are not familiar with the NUC, it stands for Next Unit of Computing, basically a little 4×4 inch box that has a full sized Intel CPU in it, not an underpowered Atom. ![]() Lets take a look at what the NUC says about Intel’s tenuous margin structure and start it out with a merry rant that will make you smile before you realize the trouble your portfolio is in. This cute little PC form factor is the latest canary coughing in the coal mine, and the underlying problems are quite fatal to Intel’s bottom line. The NUC is prime evidence that they are speeding down the wrong path while building ever more efficient blinders. Unfortunately it also points out that Intel is in far deeper trouble as a company than anyone wants to admit, they simply do not understand how to compete in this new post-PC world. ![]() Technology, marketing, and consumers all add up to the NUC crashing and burning in a spectacular fashion. To make matters even more grim, the consumer market has spoken and it is saying that the current Wintel path is one is not wanted, regardless of price. Trying to get a bigger share of a shrinking BoM is decent business, but it has limits. More importantly, they need to do this in a market that is quickly moving from proprietary to commodity devices. Intel is desperately trying to save the PC from the quick death looming above it, and the NUC is their latest ill-conceived master plan. If you take a closer look at the underlying tech, it paints a grim picture for Intel’s prospects in a post-PC world. ![]() When Intel first put out the NUC FFRD, SemiAccurate thought that it was not only a bad idea, it illustrated all that was wrong with modern Intel. ![]()
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March 2023
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