Turn Off Your TV -- It's The
Pentium III
(02/18/99; 5:00 p.m. PT)
OPINION
By Randy Whitted, TechWeb contributor
Let the jokes begin -- Intel has released the new
answer for whatever ails you. As if anyone cared,
there's a new Pentium chip out now that really needs
your support because it doesn't do much more than run
at a higher clock speed, and not much higher, at that.
But that's not what the public is being told. "The
Pentium III will bring some capability that you haven't
had before," said Intel CEO Craig Barrett. Okay, like
what? Will Windows stop crashing? Is the lousy
interface going to get any better? Is there some
incredible new way of getting work done being
heralded by the daringly named Pentium III?
No, but it will bring a
"brand-new user
experience" to computing
by improving the way
3-D and video is viewed
on the Web, says Barrett.
I'd like to see this one
explained. If I shell out
top dollar for a Pentium
III, can I throw out my
modem? It sounds like
suddenly I can download
5-megabyte QuickTime
movies, which then
enhance my user
experience. Has Intel replaced Macromedia's Flash
with some Pentium equivalent?
The chip has 70 new instructions that somehow
enhance video streaming. Enhancing video is one thing
(the video card, for example), but enhancing video
streaming? I'm no engineer, but isn't it the software and
the Internet connection that do that? Processing power
on the server and a fast bus on the receiving machine
are important, but the actual decoding of the video
takes relatively little horsepower. Speech recognition, I
understand, might have been a better demo technology.
The Pentium III is also touted as being able to improve
the way graphics display on screen, and make 3-D
images from the Web crisper and sharper. Throw out
your Matrox Millenia -- you don't need a video card
anymore. The Pentium III has taken care of that "gritty
text" on screen too. Did Gates hear them say that?
The only feature that has drawn any real attention is the
identification code embedded in each chip. Intel initially
wanted this to be active on every machine, letting your
activity on the Internet be tracked, and help
corporations track inventory. Nice gesture, bad idea.
After many complaints from consumer groups, Intel
reports that this feature will be turned off. Maybe I
watch too much X-Files, but how will you know it's
turned off?
But the best spin is that a
Pentium III won't cost as much
as you might think. While it
won't cost me anything since
I'm not buying into it, the pains
felt from the AMD K6-2 are
apparently being felt. Intel says
you'll be seeing sub-$2,000
systems with Pentium III's. It
just didn't say when. But take
heart. By Christmas, 10
months from now, mainstream
PCs will be running these 450- to 500-MHz chips
being launched here in February.
Mainstream PCs? I don't think the iMac is going to be
adopting Pentium III's in the next 10 months.
So, why would a Mac user be crashing Intel's Pentium
III party? It's simple. We have to watch months and
months of Intel garbage on TV now, spreading the lie
that the processor is enhancing the Internet experience.
Why a processor company spends $300 million on an
advertising campaign is beyond me anyway. No one
runs out to buy a Pentium processor. They buy a
computer, and since everything they're shown pays
homage to Microsoft and Intel via stickers right on the
front of the case, they end up buying a Pentium.
Good luck, Intel. You forgot one thing though. People
like faster computers. Did you say the Pentium III was
faster? No, you said it will enhance the user experience.
So if I want a fast computer that's easy to use, I'll buy
the computer that touts itself as being faster than your
product -- a G3.
Randy Whitted is a copy writer/technical adviser at
Studeo, a marketing and communications agency in
Provo, Utah. The opinions expressed here are strictly his
own.
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