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Intel Concept PCs: a thing of the past?

iMac not the threat it was

For the last three Intel Developer Forums, The Register has been treated to the sight of so-called Concept PCs -- and a huge hullabaloo they have caused in the press each time. But having the memory the size of a planet, we distinctly remember putting senior Intel execs Paul Otellini and Pat Gelsinger on the record each of the last two occasions as to when the world+dog could expect these. This time last year, Gelsinger and Otellini were optimistically predicting that we would see Concept PCs on sale by August 1999. By the end of August 99, Intel was confidently predicting we would see such beasts on the market by Christmas 1999. CEO Craig Barrett even sat on a pouffe-shaped Concept PC to show his faith in the product. At least week's IDF, Pat Gelsinger, yet again was singing the praises of the Concept PC. So what's the problem? In part, or perhaps even in large part, the boards fitting inside the Concept PC were intended to use the ill-fated i810 chipset, or the even more ill-fated i820 (Caminogate) chipset. Unfortunately, motherboards using the 810 have not proved popular with either vendors or consumers, owing to their lack of functionality. i820 chipsets have had their own unique headaches. Perhaps the Arago motherboard, which supports the Timna system-on-a-chip processor, will prove the salvation of such trendy PCs. (Thanks to Nico at Tech Channel for pointing this out.) Or perhaps, according to one Intel staffer we spoke to off the record, getting this kind of box out of the door is not as important as it once was, now the Apple iMac is not considered as big a threat as it was. Behind closed doors, Intel also showed its branded machine (it's not a PC, OK, it runs Linux) which we wrote about some long time back. ® Intel Developer Forum full coverage Q1 2000 Intel's Concept PCs: Wintel's last stand? Intel's Barrett found on pouffe

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