MSFT Unboxed POD EP:034 – Which Chip Are U?

In their latest podcast, Kareem and David discuss the addition of Call of Duty to Xbox Cloud Gaming, making the game more accessible across devices, and Google’s expansion of its OneDrive migration tool to attract more users to Google Drive. They also cover Intel and AMD’s partnership to develop new technologies to compete with Arm, and Microsoft’s experimentation with Intel’s Lunar Lake chips for the next Surface Laptop. Additionally, they talk about Xbox’s new feature allowing personal game libraries in the cloud and Qualcomm’s decision to cancel its Snapdragon Dev Kit.

Show Notes:

Kareem and David dive into several exciting tech updates. They start by discussing the addition of Call of Duty to Xbox Cloud Gaming, highlighting how this move makes the popular game more accessible to players who can now stream it on various devices without needing a console. This development is seen as a significant step in making high-quality gaming more flexible and convenient.

Next, they cover Google’s expansion of its OneDrive migration tool. This tool simplifies the process for users moving their files from OneDrive to Google Drive, reflecting Google’s strategy to attract more users to its cloud services. The hosts discuss the potential impact on users and the competitive landscape of cloud storage solutions.

The conversation then shifts to Xbox’s new feature allowing users to upload their personal game libraries to the cloud. This means that players can access their own games from anywhere, enhancing the flexibility and convenience of gaming on the go. Kareem and David explore how this feature could change the way people interact with their game collections.

In a surprising twist, they talk about Intel and AMD partnering up to develop new technologies to compete with Arm. This partnership aims to leverage the strengths of both companies to create more powerful and efficient processors. The hosts speculate on the potential outcomes of this collaboration and its implications for the tech industry.

They also discuss Qualcomm’s decision to cancel its Snapdragon Dev Kit, which was intended to help developers create apps for Snapdragon-powered devices. The reasons behind this decision include market challenges and strategic shifts, and the hosts provide insights into what this means for developers and the future of Snapdragon devices.

Finally, Kareem and David delve into Microsoft’s experimentation with Intel’s upcoming Lunar Lake chips for the next Surface Laptop. These chips promise significant performance improvements and energy efficiency, potentially making the next Surface Laptop a standout device. The hosts share their thoughts on how this could influence the laptop market and Microsoft’s product lineup.

#qualcomm #intel #xbox

EP.114 – AI Not Ready, Too Expensive, We'll Wait – MSFT Unboxed

Amazon just killed the Fire tablet. Microsoft put an NVIDIA chip in a $2,600 laptop. PC shipments dropped 20% in a single quarter. This week on MSFT UNBOXED POD, Kareem and David go through all of it, plus Google’s Googlebook mess and a Windows search box that finally does something useful.Amazon first. The Fire name is gone after 15 years, and the replacement is a trio of Alexa Tablets running regular Android with the Play Store. Panos Panay told Bloomberg the old ones weren’t giving customers what they asked for, which seems to mean Google apps, nicer hardware, and fewer ads on the lock screen. You pay for that, though: $229 to start, $499 for the 12 Pro, versus $155 for the Fire HD 10 it’s replacing. Amazon is betting people will pay more for Alexa+.The Surface Laptop Ultra is Microsoft’s answer to the MacBook Pro. It starts at $2,599, runs on NVIDIA’s RTX Spark chip, and tops out at 128GB of unified memory, enough to run models up to 120 billion parameters without touching the cloud. It’s Windows on Arm, so whether your apps and games survive the trip is a fair question. Pre-orders are live, and it ships October 16.Googlebook versus Chromebook Plus is where David and Kareem spend a good chunk of the episode, mostly because Google has now got three laptop tiers and a name that gets mangled into “Google Books” half the time. Googlebook starts at $899, blends Android and ChromeOS, and wires Gemini deeper into the OS. Chromebook Plus is cheaper and already has plenty of the same AI stuff. Who the new one is for isn’t obvious.IDC’s Q3 numbers are ugly. 62.7 million PCs shipped, down 20.1% from last year, and HP fell almost 31%. Part of it is buyers and vendors stocking up early in the year ahead of memory price hikes, and part is that memory is just expensive now. IDC thinks Q4 looks about the same, and don’t count on bargains coming back.Also, Windows Insiders on the Experimental channel can try the rebuilt taskbar search: faster, less cluttered, and it’ll toggle dark mode or Bluetooth, mute your PC, or snap windows when you ask. English only for now, and the Start menu version waits until next year.Buying anything on this list? Drop it in the comments.#MSFTUnboxedPod #TechNews #Amazon #AlexaTablet #SurfaceLaptopUltra #NVIDIA #RTXSpark #Googlebook #Chromebook #Windows11 #PCMarket #TechPodcast

1. EP.114 – AI Not Ready, Too Expensive, We'll Wait 01:31:27
2. EP.113 – Xbox For Sale, Clipping Hawking Crypto, WSL Updates 57:29
3. EP.112 – Big Copilot Pivot, Xbox Glass Cliff, Pixelbook vs Chromebook 01:30:53
4. EP.111 – Your New Copilot Coworker, More Windows Headaches, Time To Slow AI 01:00:42
5. EP.110 – The Foldable debate heats up, and other Microsoft News 01:25:48