Our collection of the highs and lows of Intel's 2024 will have you reaching for the brandy. I mean, aside from some of Intel's mobile chips, what exactly did it do right? Let's put it this way: when your ex-CEO prays for your company after he was kicked out, it was a bad year. As we've done for other companies in the past, we've collected the best, worst, and head-scratching moments from the past year. Get yourself a hot mug of cider or a cold glass of egg nog, and sit down with as we recap Intel's 2024. And hold on -- it's going to get bumpy.

AMD today launched its most recent generation of business processors for business PCs, the Ryzen Pro 8000 series, for both desktop and laptops. For now, AMD will be the only CPU vendor offering AI-powered NPUs in business desktop PCs. AMD's launch arrives on the heels of Intel's 14th-gen vPro platform, which also offers desktop and mobile parts. The difference is that Intel launched its vPro refresh based upon the "Raptor Lake Refresh" architecture, which lacks AI; AMD's Ryzen Pro 8000 series is relatively consistent across both its mobile and desktop offerings. However, not every new Ryzen Pro 8000 mobile or desktop chip includes AI support.

AMD was the first company to deliver x86 laptop chips with NPUs for AI acceleration last year -- now, at CES 2024 it's doing the same for desktops. The company's new Ryzen 8000G processors, which debuted today in Las Vegas (but have already been leaked by retailers), are once again NPU pioneers among x86 desktop chips. And on top of that, the company claims its built-in Radeon 700M graphics are the fastest ever seen on a desktop chip. While the Ryzen 8000G chips aren't AMD's most powerful desktop offerings -- the Ryzen 7700X and above all offer higher clock speeds, core counts and onboard cache -- AMD says the new processors could be compelling options for gamers trying to build capable systems on a budget. The fastest model, the Ryzen 7 329 8700G, is an eight-core chip running between 4.2GHz and 5.1GHz, sporting Radeon 780M graphics.

It used to be that if you dreamed of reaching 6GHz speeds with your hot rod desktop CPU, you'd have to try your luck with overclocking and all of the potential instability and cooling demands that required. Earlier this year, Intel released the Core i9-13900KS, which hit 6GHz right out of the box. Now, the company is doing it again with its fastest 14th-gen desktop CPU, the i9-14900K. That frequency is just a short-lived "Thermal Velocity Boost" speed, which isn't sustained for very long, but it's still something Intel can lord over AMD. These 14th-gen chips, to be clear, are different from Intel's recently announced 14th-gen Core Ultra processors for notebooks.

Apple's transition to its own processors is nearly complete. The company's recent spring event saw the debut of the Mac Studio and its M1 Ultra processor -- its most powerful piece of silicon yet. But it also revealed what the future of Apple's computers could look like. For the first time, all of Apple's chips are on the table. The first crucial takeaway is that Apple is now a force to be reckoned with when it comes to chips (if it wasn't already).