Comments on: Intel warning casts cloud over CES

The bellwether chipmaker foresees a 23 percent drop in revenue. It's especially untimely news as it comes on the eve of the premier consumer electronics event.

[Get_a_life_Leo]

Actually, the most expensive laptop out there is the just announced 17" MacBook Pro which, if configured with an 256 Gb SSD and 8 Gb of RAM from Apple runs almost $5000. But netbooks are also severely limited. The MacBook Air is significantly faster and has a far better screen than most netbooks. Will Apple make a netbook? Probably should, but probably not (use an iPod Touch - sure.....).

The analogy to SUVs is also disingenuous since those monsters were designed to get around taxes and safety standards when oil was cheap. They are dying because people have realised they don't need an almost off-road capable vehicle that guzzles gas. The true dinosaur is the desktop computer - as judged by the overtaking of laptops in numbers (admittedly also compounded by netbooks). People now realise they don't need a desktop for most tasks (aside high-end gaming) as a laptop offers similar power and performance.

[coolpaule]

Laptop for personal and desktop for small business. I really don't want to mix the two!

[i_made_this]

IMHO Freedman's comments are unbelievably myopic, not to mention plain stupid.

"We just heard consumer electronics sales over the holidays were down 26 percent year to year," said Broadpoint AmTech analyst Doug Freedman. "You want to head into CES with a pall over it? There it is, right there."

Doug, tell me and the rest of C|NET's readership exactly why we should care.

I love technology, have been involved in it since the mid-1970's, but still, I sincerely don't give a damn about CE sales being down 26% YOY, and I sure as shootin' couldn't care less what the mood amongst attendees of the 2009 CES was like.

I do respect Intel for its corporate ethics in announcing this particular shortfall at this particular CES. It was their goal by doing it at CES to give the usually party-like mood at CES a swift kick in the butt and a wake-up call. As I see it, it was Intel's way of saying (my words lol...) "the modern tech industry as we've come to know it has never in its 20+ year history had to operate in such a economically dismal environment as this. Be glad to sell anything at all for the duration, which won't be short."

I'm glad their statement opened eyes at the CES. I'm certain it was meant to do. One thing I can remain certain of - if there is any tech industry at all in decades coming, Intel will remain a major player - arguably "the" major player.

[Bernardo Ortiz]

This is significant because during previous recessions in the electronics industry PC sales defied logic by continuing to grow at the same steady pace. The comment is not myopic but I do agree, the decline is likely due more to how awful the entire economy is as opposed to netbook versus laptop battle.

On the other hand, i7 has been widely pre-announced and hardly anyone is carrying it. USB3 has been announced, yet it's about a year away from shipping. Is it just a case of all this wonderful technology that is "coming soon" but still not shipping that is stealing all the sales?