Intel is to introduce a new processor numbering scheme when its 65nm 'Yonah' chip debuts early next year, sources from within Taiwan's motherboard maker community have claimed.

Every Yonah's model number will be prefixed with an E, T, L or U, determined by the chip's thermal design power (TDP) stats. That's followed by a 1 or a 2 to indicate the number of cores incorporated into the package, then a three-digit performance/features rating, the sources claim by way of a DigiTimes report.

The four letters work as follows: E indicates a TDP of more than 50W, T for 25-49W, L for 15-24W and U for under 14W. With Intel's strategy directed towards building chips with ever higher performance per watt ratings, the Yonah numbering scheme may well extend beyond the Pentium M to other mobile processors and quite possibly desktop and server chips in due course.

Alas, the letters don't fall into a logical sequence, such as higher up the alphabet, the lower the TDP, so the number scheme doesn't seem too consumer-friendly. More sensible, perhaps, is the claim that Intel will brand single-core chips 'solo' and dual-core parts 'duo'. ®