Intel dropping desktop motherboards to focus on new PC form factors

By Anna Washenko January 23, 2013

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Intel announced that it will phase out its operations in making desktop motherboards, with no new products in that field planned for this year. The Haswell-based 4th generation Core i launch will be the last new project in that area for Intel. According to Xbit Laboratories, the company will shut down its desktop motherboard division over the course of three years. Instead, Intel will focus its energy on other emerging desktop solutions. “We are ramping up critical areas of the desktop space including integration of innovative solutions for the PC ecosystem such as reference design development, NUC and other areas to be discussed later,” company spokesman Daniel Snyder said. He added that Intel would continue to offer support for all products sold through their specified warranty period.

Intel has been in the field of desktop motherboards for about two decades, and developed a strong reputation among computer buyers. However, the company has faced competition from other businesses and mostly has not been able to surpass the performance or features offered by its motherboard rivals. The shift away from that unit is a sign that mobile options as well as desktops will probably be a part of Intel’s new strategy.

But that new focus doesn’t mean that the gut response to this news should be that Intel is abandoning the desktop or that desktops are dead. The field for these machines has changed rapidly since Intel was first powering them, and it’s clear that there is still plenty of interest among computer companies in making PCs cooler. Our lineup of the best desktop computers shows just how much range there is today in designs, style, and performance. And on the other end of the spectrum, Raspberry Pi and others are making machines cheaper and smaller, to the point where you could fit them in your pocket.

(Image via pat7047)

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Intel
PC

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anna is a professional writer living in Chicago. She covers everything from social media to digital entertainment, from tech…

Computing

Some Intel CPUs lost 9% of their performance almost overnight

Someone holding the Core i9-12900KS processor.

Over the past few weeks, we've seen an increasing number of reports of instability on high-end Intel CPUs like the Core i9-14900K. Asus has released a BIOS update for its Z790 motherboards aimed at addressing the problem, but it carries a performance loss of upwards of 9% in some workloads.

The most recent BIOS update from Asus includes the Intel Baseline Profile. This profile disables various optimizations that are automatically applied on Asus Z790 motherboards and runs high-end Intel chips within Intel's specific limits. Hardwareluxx tested the new profile with the Core i9-14900K and found that the CPU ran around 9% slower in multiple tests.

Computing

We might have an answer to Intel’s crashing crisis

Intel's 14900K CPU socketed in a motherboard.

Intel is facing some big problems with its 13th-gen and 14th-gen CPUs. As we reported on last week, gamers are returning high-end Intel CPUs in droves because of inexplicable crashes when playing the latest games. Now, we might have a solution, at least until Intel can tackle the problem properly.

The guidance comes from Falcon Northwest, which is a Portland-based system builder that received a rare perfect score from Digital Trends (read our Falcon Northwest Tiki review for more on that). Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest, said that the team has had "many long days of testing on many different CPUs that had developed issues here in our production and in the field from our clients." The result of that testing is a list of BIOS settings that should fix the problem.

Computing

MSI has a new flagship PC that is absolutely gorgeous

A graphic showing the MSI Vision Elite desktop.

MSI first showcased its range of new prebuilt gaming desktop towers earlier this year, and now the entire range is available for purchase. The company’s flagship offering, the Vision Elite, packs top-of-the-line specs including Intel’s latest 14th-gen Core i9 desktop processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090.

The PC uses the recently released MEG Maestro 700L PZ cabinet, which is the star of the show. It features a unibody aluminum construction and a one-piece, 270-degree tempered glass that offers a panoramic view of the components inside.