First, let's add some actual context: I'm basically trying to decide on a new laptop. I don't know how quickly this falls into the "then it doesn't really matter" category, but the laptops I'm most interested in either have AMD Ryzen or Intel Core processors. In addition, a general Internet search yields results that basically come down to "well, they're similar but also very different depending on xyz factors."

So this si where I turn to y'all. I know things in egneral about computers and laptops, but getting into the guts is not an area I know too much about. Also, I live outside the US, and the two main brands I'm looking into are Asus and Lenovo. Also, and this is the part where I know a bunch of you are going to groan or otherwise be disgusted, I'm intending to just run the default Windows OS that will come with it... and then try to uninstall a bunch of stuff. Something like Linux is far too complicated for my meager understanding.

As for what I intend to use it for? Just general purpose- lots of internet browsing, watching a bunch of video files I have (I already have a preferred video player), and playing the occasional game or two... but it's definitely not any sort of gaming laptop usage.

Also, with what I'm going for, it's going to be Ryzen 5 vs core i5. Which of these is better to go with, based on the above information?

Pretty much what the title says - I’ve been looking for something small and not too expensive to run a few VMs on recently, and I’m just genuinely amazed at where the tiny SBC space is at right now.

The Celeron N5105 seems to be the go to choice at the moment. You can get an entire machine running that CPU that’s slightly smaller than an old double CD jewel case, for $150. Less than $200 if you want 16GB RAM and a fast NVMe SSD in there too. Four decent quality 2.5GbE NICs thrown in as a bonus. And it’s not that much slower than my expensive full size desktop from late 2020.

Part of me thinks I’m just getting old - phones have been plenty of people’s primary computer for years now, after all - but there’s something about having a real standalone x86 PC that size for literally 1/5th the price of a flagship phone that just blows my mind.

• On June 11th Jim Keller (Senior Vice President of Intel’s Silicon Engineering Group) retired immediately - Former tenure at AMD, Tesla, and Apple. - Link

• Next on June 27th Murthy Renduchintala (Chief Engineering Officer) departs due to a massive layoff - Link

An interesting note is that Ann Kelleher who is a 24-year Intel veteran will lead the development of 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer chip technology processes.

Editorial

!Meme.

With ARM, AMD, Nvidia, TSMC leading the charge, Intel might start their downward run. They are now relying on TSMC for fab capacity in hopes to outbid AMD and constrain supply. AMD is quickly growing in the enterprise space and providing comparable performance.

I believe we (consumers) are in for a great few years of accelerated CPU development.