AMD unveils Celeron basher

AMD's rival for Celeron in the sub-$1,000 segement, previously codenamed Spitfire, has been badged Duron, which we are assured is derived from the Latin words for "to last" and "unit". Our research reveals the sordid truth: Duron was a composer who died of TB in 1716 after being accused by the Catholic Church for the decadence of Spanish music. "In choosing the AMD Duron product name, AMD wanted to convey the qualities that will prolong the life of the buyer's investment, specifically: dependability, reliability and stability," said Rob Herb, executive vice president at AMD, with nary a trace of marketingspeak. "The AMD Duron processor will be a workhorse without peer - invigorating AMD's competitive posture in the value market." Duron is based on the Athlon core and features full-speed, on-chip L2 cache, a 200MHz front side system bus, plus enhanced 3Dnow instructions. Volume shipments are scheduled for June. ® Register Factoid: Athlon is also the name for a Spanish brand of washing powder