Just a week or so after the Computex exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, Intel showed off its new range of fourth-generation Core processors, codenamed 'Haswell' in Sydney
THE CHIP GIANT decided to go easy on technical minutiae and focused instead on the key points of Haswell, which are substantially increased graphics performance - although overall processor prowess is only marginally up compared to earlier Ivy Bridge parts - the new integrated ball grid array design with an on-chip voltage regulator, and power usage improvements across the line.
Well, almost easy: Intel is a deep geek company and has to scratch that itch every now and then. Even though the world is moving towards commodity hardware that's more likely to end up in the cloud
rather than in homes, the company's general sales manager for Asia Pacific, Gregory Bryant, made a point of saying Haswell is eminently overclockable.
To show off the performance of the new Iris Graphics solution, Intel showcased 4K videos and games, with everything running stutter and lag-free at good frame rates and quality.
A voice recognition demo however went horribly wrong when the Hello Dragon software was asked to find vivid pictures of Sydney, but instead brought up some very x-rated search results.
Many of Intel's traditional OEM partners such as HP, Dell, Asus, Acer and Lenovo had hopped across from Taiwan with new gear in tow, some of which looks very sleek and neat indeed. Intel is seeking to revive the Ultrabook concept and Haswell, which promises seven hours or longer battery life, could help in that respect.
Windows 8 was prominently on display with the vendors, and was featured on several hybrid laptops with twistable touch screens.
Traditional "fat tops" as Bryant called them aren't dead yet however, with Alienware and Acer having some powerful but large gaming laptops to look at.
Sadly, there were no new Haswell- equipped Apple Macs to gawk at, prompting questions from the media pack if it isn't the Cupertino company that's driving PC design and innovation these days, rather than Intel and its Windows OEMs.
Hinting that the drop in PC sales - more of a collapse really, with the Australian market falling by 21% and the New Zealand one even more, nose-diving by 27% according to the latest IDC statistics
- is actually hurting Intel, Bryant was hopeful that an upgrade cycle was about to take place, as those with four-year-old machines wanted something better.
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