Intel Celeron to die Q1 next year

An Intel roadmap seen by The Register indicates that the Celeron processor will shuffle off its mortal coil towards the end of the first quarter next year, displaced by the system-on-the-chip solution codenamed Timna.

But there's life in the old Celeron dog yet, according to the roadmap. As revealed here yesterday, the 633MHz and 666MHz Celerons will arrive at the end of the month, to be followed in Q3 by a 700MHz Celeron, and in Q4 by a 733MHz Cu128K.

In the third and fourth quarters, the line between the Celeron Cu128K and the Timna, begin to get blurred, with a mixture of both product lines as Intel readies itself to kick the damned thing into touch in Q1 2001.

During Q1 2001, Intel will add Timna processors with increments of 33MHz clock speeds. At the same time, according to the same sources within the microprocessor giant, the business and consumer roadmaps will be merged into one single desktop roadmap.

Three Celerons will launch in volume in the second half of this year, and the firm will add three Timnas to its roadmap in the first quarter of 2001, with multiple SKUs available on its so-called "value roadmap" to support the Value PC segment.

Intel, which currently uses a "configuration" roadmap model (you can see these blocky things on its site), intends to replace these diagrams with so-called "platform sweet spots" to describe changes. It also intends to push technology initiatives aimed at consumer, business and channel OEMs.

This has to be seen as a response to threats to its space from AMD, and to a lesser extent Via. ®