Charles, I have suggested several times on this thread that real world performance gains with newer Intel chips are getting incrementally less with each new chip. Despite having backed up this claim with testing figures, I got a lot of negative reaction. From a personal basis, I can attest that this is the case. I have 2 P100 computers and a new P200 MMX, all top of the line machines, and the there is only slight perceived improvement with the P200 MMX. The X86 architecture is an antique and limits performance. I hope Merced isn't delayed. Despite this, the only real long term worry I have about Intel is that without some new killer application ,users will decide that their present machine is good enough. Most of the factors you mentioned are already factored into the stock price. I'm less sure that this one is, but I still consider Intel a core holding. Where else can you get such potential for this kind of P/E?
BTW, I spent much of yesterday shoping for a new laptop. I went to most of the stores in town, and there wasn't an AMD powered computer to be seen. It was interesting that most of the Pentium Windows 95 portables were sold with only 8MB RAM, which is certainly inadequate. I wonder if retail stores have given up selling to experienced buyers. I finally bought mail order, and wound up with a P120 with 32MB RAM. |
