Intel’s next-generation Panther Lake laptop chips could be a return to form

New laptop CPUs replace confusing bifurcated Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake lineups.

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[Zaragon]

After switching to AMD, I kind of wish they would drop the P-Core/E-Core nonsense. I don't feel like it has provided any value at all and honestly has caused more problems that it has solved. If (or until) it becomes a x86 architectural standard, and modern operating systems universally support it, just drop it from the mainstream.

Yeah, I abandoned Intel when they went to this architecture. I'm simply not interested in the hybrid core design, and it doesn't really do anything for my workload that isn't handled better by fewer full-sized cores. My next CPU will likely be a 9800X3D, which will be my first AMD CPU since the Athlon days.

 

[Zaragon]

Not abandoning Windows because of the NPU, but because of the requirement for an NPU. My current hardware lacks one, and I’ve gotten by fine. Being forced to get new hardware so that MS can force Copilot into every nook and cranny of Windows doesn’t seem a win for me, since I have zero interest in using Copilot. (I also haven’t used an external GPU for a long time - I don’t game or do any other 3D graphics, so the limited embedded GPU is more than I need.)

I am aware of what NPUs (and GPUs) are, and what they are used to accelerate None of my usages need that acceleration - when I am running compilers all I need is fast sequential execution. I am pretty unimpressed by autocorrect’s success rate and would happily live without it, along with the rest you mention. (Obviously, some of those will be useful in some environments and for some people - just not for me.) This is not to say that I reject ML in all of my personal usage - it’s apparently useful in phone cameras and noise cancellation. But I don’t see the need for it for anything I do on a desktop, so resent being forced to have to pay for it. Don’t assume that what you do is what everyone does.

More importantly, if you have an NPU, Windows will likely find some way to turn it on when you aren't watching and use it for some AI crap that you may not want. If you don't have an NPU, that can't happen. That would be why I don't want one.