Intel shakes up multi-core chip branding
No more Duo, Quad, Pro, apparently
So farewell then, Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad: come 1 January 2008 you will be no more, leaked Intel presentation slides reveal. The Centrino Duo and Pro brands are out too, it seems.
The move appears to be an attempt by the chip giant to streamline its branding for a world where multi-core processors are not de rigueur. According to slides posted by Chinese-language site HKEPC, the Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo lines will simply be badged 'Core 2' from the start of next year.
Which makes sense: the dual- and quad-cores are already distinguished by their model number. Presumably, that's the metric Intel will use to differentiate a four-core Core 2 from a two-core part, though we'd hope that, from January, quad-core model numbers will be changed to reflect this more clearly than the current approach of just bunging a 'Q' on the front.
The plan will leave Intel with four desktop brands: Core 2 Extreme, Core 2, Pentium - it's dropping the 'Dual-Core' from the name of the Core architecture-based chips - and Celeron. On the mobile side, from January it will simply offer Centrino and Centrino vPro brands, with the Centrino 'wings' logo finally biting the dust.
The attachment of the vPro label to Centrino - in place of Centrino Pro - will be accompanied by a similar change on the desktop: vPro machines will be labelled Core 2 vPro. Likewise, Viiv PCs will be branded Core 2 Viiv from next January.
Server branding will remain almost as before. The only change: intriguingly, Itanium 2 chips will simply be labelled 'Itanium'.
It goes without saying, of course, that all of the new chip labels have the 'inside' in the bottom right corner, a word missing from a fair few chip labels of late.
COMMENTS
The naming should be Core Solo, Core 2, Core 4
Then there would be no doubt what you are buying. It's stupid calling quad core chips Core 2
blah...AMD all over again..
To me it just sounds like things are going to get "AMD" all over again, and be confusing (this is originally why i liked Intel - I could understand exactly what i was looking at for the most part).
If they're going to change up names, simply call 'em "Dual Core 2.4GHz" or "Quad Core 1.8GHz" ... or yea, "Core 2D 2.4GHZ" or "Core 2Q 1.8GHz" ... i dunno, but as long as "reading and understanding model numbers, code-names, code-words, etc..." doesn't come into play I think I'll survive.
Just for heaven's sake, keep it simple.
Hiding true value of chips
Giving the normal computer user a Quad core with the RAM, HDDs, graphics cards and network access specs necessary to use those cores to their max potential is massive overkill. It's like giving your sister a 4 litre Jag for driving around her university campus.
The average consumer needs to buy their computer on the basis of number of cores as this is now the single biggest factor determining the type of computer you are buying.
Single core - you gran doing some emailing and booking her holiday cruise over the internet.
Dual core - normal family computers.
Quad core - hardcore online gamers, video renderers etc
Any other naming system is designed to make it harder for consumers to judge the value of what they are buying.
I suggest the following: 32bit Dual Core I 1600 (first generation 32 bit dual core with each processor having a power equivalent of 1600), 64bit Quad Core III 3200 (third generation 64 bit quad core with each processor having equivalent of 3200 processing power rating).
$pent-ium Numbering
'Tis a shame, the current naming system makes it easier to distinguish between any two chips, for instance, the "Core-2 Double Quad Dual Quadruple Core Ultra Extreme" vs. the "4-Core-Two Quad Double Quadruple Dual Core Extreme Ultra (Pro)".
Perhaps they should just use the price as the model number going forward? "Pentium-D 1.5GHz" and "Pentium Core 2 Extreme 1.5GHz" would become "SPentium $70" and "SPentium $2500", respectively...
Core 2 Quad
Core 2 Quad was a silly and confusing name. Good riddance.
