I don't see why Intel couldn't make high end PCI cards that do super fast matrix multiplications and activation functions. Glue that together with a C-API and Python bindings.
For all the interesting concepts in CUDA, it seems like gamers want pixels and polygons, and neural networks want gemm/relu. It doesn't seem like Nvidia really has a moat that others (Tenstorrent?) can't cross.
bearjaws · 9h ago
M1 was the canary in the coal mine. Apple went from making cell phone CPUs to an Intel destroying generation of CPUs in 6 years.
Personally I use a MBP for dev, at work I am required to use a Intel PC. I loathe my work laptop for being slower and having sleep issues.
My 265H Intel laptop sounds like a jet engine at all times, runs slower than my M4 Max, and only cost $500 less than the MBP.
roody15 · 5h ago
Absolutely agree. Here we are in 2025 and intel really doesn’t have an answer for the M1 which came out in 2020. A 600$ M1 MacBook Air has better performance / battery than most 1500$ plus intel laptops that are brand new. It’s honestly kind of sad.
protimewaster · 9h ago
> only cost $500 less than the MBP.
That feels like a big difference? I think $500 is more than I've ever paid for a laptop.
apothegm · 7h ago
Then you’re buying very low end laptops. For anyone who wants performance — be it for gaming or compiling or video production or 3D rendering or LLMs - $500 is a very low budget.
(Also, I must be old because I can remember a time when even the cheapest laptop cost about $2k.)
protimewaster · 5h ago
I dunno about that, at least for gaming. I routinely see older model, but still perfectly capable, gaming laptops for $550 or less, on deals websites like Slickdeals. And I know that's more than $500, but not by much.
You can find deals on PC laptops much, much easier than Macs.
For all the interesting concepts in CUDA, it seems like gamers want pixels and polygons, and neural networks want gemm/relu. It doesn't seem like Nvidia really has a moat that others (Tenstorrent?) can't cross.
Personally I use a MBP for dev, at work I am required to use a Intel PC. I loathe my work laptop for being slower and having sleep issues.
My 265H Intel laptop sounds like a jet engine at all times, runs slower than my M4 Max, and only cost $500 less than the MBP.
That feels like a big difference? I think $500 is more than I've ever paid for a laptop.
(Also, I must be old because I can remember a time when even the cheapest laptop cost about $2k.)
You can find deals on PC laptops much, much easier than Macs.