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News AMD says consumers are technology illiterate

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 10 Sep 2009.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. Rkiver

    Rkiver Cybernetic Spine

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    Shock horror as AMD states blatently obvious! News at 11.

    Seriously though, most people tech illiterate. Since when is that news? Sure trying to brand things differently may help, then again the non-techies may just stay confused and not care.
     
  3. tejas

    tejas What's a Dremel?

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    I absolutely LOVE the AMD/ NVIDIA sticker as that pretty much describes my two rigs. AMD + NVIDIA Cheesecake!!!!
     
  4. UnFixed

    UnFixed Unknown

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    I assume technical specs will still be provided and this affects only the badges placed on PCs?
    In that case, i really don't see it doing much good, though perhaps it is a small step in the right direction in terms of catering to the masses.
     
  5. specofdust

    specofdust Banned

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    To be honest, I don't think it'll make much difference. Most people just switch off completely when it comes to computers. Your average person is still going to walk into PC World, tell the con artist in the purple shirt that they want a PC that will be great for everything, for 5 years, for under £4/6/800, and that they want to be able to play some games on it, even though they generally don't.

    The Purple Shirt is still going to lead the customers to whichever PC earns them the most commission, and then they're going to proceed to lie to the customers about the negative aspects of the PC, and make up everything else, since they generally know very very little.

    Your average person is flying blind out there, and buys based on bigger numbers for everything except for price, where they want smaller numbers.
     
  6. pimlicosound

    pimlicosound What's a Dremel?

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    The current situation is, of course, terrible for those who aren't tech-savvy, but this can hardly be any better.

    1. What does "Vision", "Vision Premium" and "Vision Ultimate" have to do with usage? They don't suggest that one is good for gaming while the other is good for, say, music editing.
    2. They're very vague terms, without any inherent practical meaning.
    3. If you're not familiar with the whole Vision scale than seeing any one of these labels won't give you an idea of the PC's relative capability.
     
  7. Dreaming

    Dreaming What's a Dremel?

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    Oh god yes. My friend got told an acer aspire one (with linux) was not compatible with either other computers or printers (she was planning to write essays on it when she was in the lounge / out and about, rather than having to sit at her desk). I could have slapped the saleswoman right there and then for pure lies.

    edit: back to the topic though, I quite like Microsoft's "Windows Performance Index" score. It's not really relevant to us enthusiasts (but then, neither is 3Dmark with it's 'oh hi, i see you're running nvidia, have an extra 2000 points because they paid us moneys'), but to the average joe it can really help.

    Imagine if all PCs had the Windows Performance Index printed on the side. The best tip any of us can give anyone really though is just to ask someone who knows a bit about computers, and never, ever, go to PC world.
     
    pimonserry likes this.
  8. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

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    You do realise this is marketing, don't you? Marketing is all about being vague and nothing to do with actual facts. :p
     
  9. Moyo2k

    Moyo2k AMD Fanboy

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    And this is news...
    Most people can't tell the difference between a USB and an SSD...
    I sound so nerdy right now... need to do something cool :p
     
  10. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    Hell most people don't even know what they stand for nevermind the difference, plus most people after finding out what a SSD is would refer to it as a hard drive ^_^

    This is nothing new though, my dad wants me to build him a computer and I will be going i7/i5 for around £600, now there's no way in hell you could buy a system with an i5/i7 in for around that price point but people who go out to PC World don't realize how much more benefit there is to building a computer, poor lost souls T_T
     
  11. HourBeforeDawn

    HourBeforeDawn a.k.a KazeModz

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    ya Im part of that insight program that AMD has and you should see the well non-techie people that take part on their surveys and forums it will just blow you away lol so Im assuming a lot of these badge changes is coming from the people they have been for the most part studying
     
  12. l3v1ck

    l3v1ck Fueling the world, one oil well at a time.

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    They weren't saying that a few years ago when everyone was buying Athlon 64's instead of Pentium 4's.
     
  13. Guest-2867

    Guest-2867 Guest

    Indeed lol

    You can imagine the board meeting "Noones buying our CPUs!" "That's because they're all STUPID"
     
  14. stonedsurd

    stonedsurd Is a cackling Yuletide Belgian

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    [​IMG]
     
  15. chrisb2e9

    chrisb2e9 Dont do that...

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    This is awesome. I take part in the amd surveys that come out from time to time. The last one delt with what you want to see on the box for marketing info. My entire survey said that I want as much tech infor as possible and no marketing hype.
    Guess they didn't listen to me...
     
  16. mjm25

    mjm25 What's a Dremel?

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    "Peugeot, the drive of your life" LIES but it works.

    the new scheme is still incredibly vague... but at least they've distilled the vagueness into 3 classy categories!
     
  17. ParaHelix.org

    ParaHelix.org What's a Dremel?

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    "AMD says consumers are technology illiterate" < If you own an AMD then yes, technology illiterate. ;_;
     
  18. leslie

    leslie Just me!

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    Hmm, I can't imagine why they are illiterate.

    AMD and Intel PURPOSELY set out to confuse customers years ago. Athlon Xp's not being actual rated speeds, Intel changing to just numbers, AM2/AM3 sockets, xp, xp x2. Will my new x2 fit my old xp board or does it need an upgrade, how about a P4 502 upgrading to dual core... They have themselves to blame for this problem.

    And that is just processors.

    How about Direct X 10 and 10.1, MATX, ATX and ATX 2.1, pci and pci-e (yes, I get asked about it), items with 4 different names (1394, Firefire, Lynx, I.Link). It only goes on from there with memory compatibility, speeds, latency, Sata 1, 1.5, 2, 3, Esata, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, Dual channel, etc...

    Pick a wrong part and you either get poor performance or something completely incompatible.
     
  19. dec

    dec [blank space]

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    teaching people computer stuff should be a requirement to pass the 8th grade. its annoying when someone says "i need a computer to check my email, listen to music and watch youtube" and L.L Dean says "oh so you want $1000 core 2 quad then". I wonder if this means AMD will make a hard turn down the rebranding road......>.< athlon III = phenom II?
     
  20. DattyMavis

    DattyMavis What's a Dremel?

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    This link might help with your #1: http://sites.amd.com/us/vision/Pages/vision.aspx
    On #2, its an effort at simple, not vague. At the simplest level, anything with Vision on it will provide a superior visual experience (graphics need to be the key differentiator and careabout for most of today's users).
    You, as with most on this thread, 'get it' so Vision isn't really educating or catering to you. You know what you want and know how to get it.
    Vision is designed to help people think about their usage and then get simple information at retail that helps them get what they want. The tiering aims to match up with the experience you desire. It is not designed to show the raw performance of any one system.
     
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