Mikes Rant – Christmas Edition – What I Got Right/Wrong in 2019

You may recall that last Christmas, while I did not give you my heart, I did layout 5 predictions of what I believed would be some of the most significant moves in the technology market. Well, being that it’s now 12-months on, I guess it’s time to find out just how well (or badly) I did!

Mikes Rant – Christmas Edition – What I Got Right and Wrong in 2019

So in establishing what I got right and wrong, I suppose the best place to start would be to see exactly what I predicted. Well, while you can check out the original article here (that does give more details on why I made them) I will happily lay them out for you below!

• Bitcoin will continue to plunge in value
• PS5/Xbox Two will be announced
• AMD graphics cards will close the gap on Nvidia
• Some PC component prices will fall
• Intel will release a graphics card

So, now you know what I said, let’s take a look at where I went right, wrong or instances where I can (attempt to) justify myself as being technically correct.

Bitcoin Will Plunge Further – Not Right but Not Entirely Wrong Either

I have said on many occasions that I have never pretended to be an expert on Bitcoin. In fact, I think few can profess to being ‘experts’ otherwise we’d have a damn sight more people who had became millionaires off it.

In fairness, while the price has steadily improved since Summer, for the early part of 2019, my prediction of a price in the region of $3000-$4000 did seem pretty on the ball.

As you can see, the price has improved rather remarkably over the latter half of this year to around $8000. Despite this, however, the peaks and troughs are still clearly visible to all. I was, at the very least, right for a significant portion of the year!

In terms of Bitcoin, however, my advice remains the same. If you are going to invest in Bitcoin, don’t put any more money into it than you can afford to lose!

PS5/Xbox Two Announcements – Right!

While neither Microsoft nor Sony exactly came out swinging big time this year, both at least confirmed the existence of their next-generation consoles and that they would (all going well) release in late-2020.

Admittedly, I did hope to have something significantly more substantive to report on this, but I guess they’re both happy simply confirming their respective systems and leaving the meat for what will surely be the hyperbole over the next console-war.

For more information on the Xbox Two (aka Xbox Series X) check the link here!

For more information on the PS5 check the link here!

AMD Will Close the Gap on Nvidia – Absolutely Right!

While AMD was doing really well with their processor releases in 2018, it was a relatively quiet year in terms of their graphics cards. 2019, however, has been far more interesting in that regard!

With the launch of the 5700 (and XT) AMD finally has a GPU that (while not competing with Team Green on the highest levels) was definitely capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with upper-mid tier releases such as the Nvidia 2070.

I predicted that all going well, AMD would see a GPU market share of as high as 25% before the end of 2019. If the latest (albeit not confirmed) figures are correct, however, then not only was I right, but I might even have underestimated it by quite a significant margin!

Think about this, in late 2017 their market share was around 15%, but by the end of this year it could be over 30%. That’s amazingly impressive progress in just 2 years no matter which side of the fence you stand on!

Some Component Prices Will Fall – Right Again!

2017 was a pretty awful year for PC consumers as prices of practically everything started going through the roof. Graphics card, storage, memory, processors – put simply, things were not getting any cheaper!

Thankfully, things started to get a little more sensible in 2018 and, as such, I predicted (or perhaps hoped) that this would improve further in 2019. Well, in some instances I was definitely right. RAM and storage prices, for example (and particularly the former), are a lot more consumer-friendly now.

Hell, you can pick up 16GB of DDR4 RAM for around £50. That would’ve been at least another £30-£40 more expensive just this time last year!

While CPU and GPU prices have remained somewhat frustratingly stable, the good news in their regard is that at least they haven’t gone up! I think though, In terms of how things stand at the moment, we’re about at the best point to start buying again!

Intel Will Release a GPU – Wrong!

I’ll freely admit (as I did at the time) that this was my most ambitious prediction for 2019. For a good portion of the Summer of this year, however, it did look for a while that I might have been right.

While I didn’t necessarily expect a desktop GPU release, I did think that Intel may have squeezed out a workstation ‘Xe’ release before the end of the year. Well, while the card may sort of exist (based on rumor) it didn’t make it out the doors, as such, I have to concede I got this one wrong. I suspect, however, that I was a lot closer to being right than many of you might have thought!

Mike Rant Christmas Edition – How Do You Think I Did?

If I was to score my predictions out of 10, I think I’d give myself a 7. Yes, I wasn’t 100% right, but where I was wrong I was damn close in certain aspects to being right and that’s good enough for me!

What do you think about 2020 though? – Let us know YOUR predictions in the comments!

More Mikes Rants!

For more Mikes Rants check out the link here! – For his Ranty Christmas 2019 specific content, you can check here for the latest release! – They’ll be one every day!

NB. Mikes Rant is a semi-comedic opinion piece and may not reflect the opinion of eTeknix as a whole!