Intel: oh yeah, and we're calling Nehalem Core i7
Just an FYI to the CPU geeks in the house: if you've been following Nehalem, you can officially start calling it Core i7 (which means that it's not getting the code name we all thought it'd carry: Core 3 Trio Quad Duo Pro Extreme Edition). Everyone else can feel free to continue scratching their head.

















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Hansel Marrero @ Aug 10th 2008 4:48PM
I am so confused. Just name then 1,2,3 ect. PLEASE!
nerdtalker @ Aug 10th 2008 4:51PM
Core i7, oh of course! It makes perfect sense!
/facepalm
Techie @ Aug 10th 2008 4:53PM
There must be a reason to the i7 code name but seriously.... what does it means!
Blackstar @ Aug 10th 2008 5:00PM
iNtel iNside Core i7. iSick of iLetters iN iNames of iThings. i yi yi yi yi.....
26 freak'n letters in the alphabet and they pick the most over used one since 1998.
Flashpoint @ Aug 10th 2008 5:02PM
How about:
PENTIUM 1
PENTIUM 2
PENTIUM III
PENTIUM IV
PENTIUM V
PENTIUM VI
PENTIUM VII...
Intel must have an entire seperate division working on these stupid names.
Whatever happened to that XIIVXI bullshit they started a year ago?
Now they've got a picture of 5 brains and if your computer sucks, you have 1 or 2 brains, but a good computer is 4 or 5 brains??????
All I can say is, you people out there planning to buy a computer better do lots of homework cause if you don't, Best Buy is so gonna take advantage of you.
Jonathan Worrel @ Aug 10th 2008 5:17PM
Look you guys, it's not hard to figure out:
Pentium 4 - 4th Generation
Pentium D - 5th Generation
Core 2 - 6th Generation
Core i7 - 7th Generation
Now the "i" could either mean "integrated memory controller (IMC)," or maybe...just maybe, Apple has something to do with this.
But I honestly don't care about Nehalem / Westmere *skips*
I'm going straight from Core 2 Extreme QX9650 to Core i8. Sandy Bridge anyone?
pina @ Aug 10th 2008 5:37PM
I think it's more like
286
386
486
586 a.k.a. Pentium
686 a.k.a. Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium M, Core, Core 2
786 a.k.a. Core i7
I don't know where the "i" comes in though...
Knives_Out @ Aug 10th 2008 5:41PM
they have some crazy looking gradients going on there.
what a crappy logo, fire that designer.
Herman @ Aug 10th 2008 5:43PM
It's actually like this:
486, Pentium - 4th gen
Pentium - 5th gen (P5)
Pentium Pro/2/3/M/Core/2 - 6th gen (P6)
Pentium 4/D (P68)
Core i7 - 7th gen
pina @ Aug 10th 2008 5:44PM
Yeah they are ugly but it seems they're dropping the Duo, Quad, Octo, etc. and are going to be separating them by colors now.
loosely_coupled @ Aug 10th 2008 6:47PM
Yeah, I think Pina has it right. That's what I came up with..
z @ Aug 10th 2008 7:44PM
"i" is probably Intel. Technically their instruction sets are/were IA-32 and IA-64, so it's not unprecedented.
The Dude @ Aug 10th 2008 7:54PM
What's more confusing is their gfx department. There has to be like 3 different lighting sources going on with that failed glassy-look attempt. It looks concave in some parts but raised+gloss in others. What???
podphreak @ Aug 10th 2008 8:43PM
Actually... the "i" stands for intergrated graphics core. That's the big deal with these CPUs. Woo. Intergrated Graphics =S
Jon Doe. @ Aug 10th 2008 10:30PM
Intel shouldn't need to cater to morons who can't figure out a branding. It ain't brain surgery. Hell its not even picking wax out of your ear/
linuxamp @ Aug 11th 2008 12:27AM
Rejected Nehalem proposals:
iChip, iCPU, iProcessor, iNtel, iCore, iProcess.
On a side note, a lot of other news sources used a capital "i" which was so confusing since it's impossible to differ that from lowercase "L" in which case it would be the "el-seven".
LondonConsultant @ Aug 11th 2008 4:54AM
"i" is for iteration. "i7" is the seventh iteration of the Pentium design. And expect the eighth iteration of the Pentium design to be "i8". Simple.
tyler @ Aug 11th 2008 9:54AM
lol @ "Core 3 Trio Quad Duo Pro Extreme Edition"
Jacob @ Aug 11th 2008 12:30PM
Why the "i7"? A throwback, a tribute maybe. Those of us who cracked-open computers prior to the Pentium will remember seeing "i386" or "i486" on the CPU. "i" stood for "Intel", of course.
As for "WHY NOT PENTIUM NAEM!?", I'm personally glad to see that name gone. It implied 5th generation tech, the "586", which is long, long ago. Ya, the chips are related, but far more evolved. If you want to make that argument, why not i786?
broli @ Aug 10th 2008 4:48PM
The obvious question would be...Why???
dagamer34 @ Aug 10th 2008 5:15PM
Pure speculation follows:
Pentium I-IV - named as such
Pentium V - Core
Pentium VI - Core 2
Pentium VII - Core i7
Of course, I still think it's a horrible name. This is where consumers get confused because the marketing department of a company can't get it's damn act together and use the LOGICAL name for future products.
Definitely wish they had gone with Core 3. Would have made things simpler in the long run.
Hancock @ Aug 10th 2008 5:57PM
they're probably adopting the bmw naming scheme.. the i7 is the best one, low end versions will be i1, i3, i5..
intel is a bmw sponsor in the formula 1, after all, so it all makes perfect sense. mystery solved.
Stephen Levinson @ Aug 10th 2008 4:48PM
*scratch scratch*
Chuckles McGee @ Aug 10th 2008 7:08PM
I though it would be the Intel Core 3 Trio Quad Duo Pro Extreme Edition with MMX
icepop4who @ Aug 10th 2008 7:10PM
damn, i gotta clean up all these dandruff.
Ghen @ Aug 10th 2008 4:48PM
wait, wut
The Dude @ Aug 10th 2008 8:14PM
srsly
CUBSWILLWIN @ Aug 11th 2008 9:45AM
this might be confusing, but those are some awesome looking stickers!
karayipada @ Aug 10th 2008 4:54PM
I can't help but ask, WTF? I miss the good old days when things were just Pentium 1-2-3-4...
Dan Halen @ Aug 11th 2008 2:53AM
The Pentium III 1GHz was the best thing that ever happened to the Earth.
I used that processor and accomplished lots of internets and Diablo II.
XIYL @ Aug 11th 2008 4:20AM
If anyone here reminisces over Celeron please raise your hand so I may shoot you. I used a 1ghz Celeron for around 2 years and they were some of the worst times of my life.
XIYL @ Aug 11th 2008 4:22AM
If anyone here reminisces over Celeron please raise your hand so I may shoot you. I used a 1ghz Celeron for around 2 years and they were some of the worst times of my life.
XIYL @ Aug 11th 2008 4:25AM
Sorry, I just thought that Celeron was so bad that I just had to reiterate.
Patriks7 @ Aug 10th 2008 4:54PM
hmm
would the "i" be related somehow to Apple?
would be interesting ;o
(PS im no apple fan, only thing i have is an ipod which broke couple days ago)
Helmore @ Aug 10th 2008 5:03PM
It is not really related and Intel has been using the "i" brand for a long long time. Their first CPU where they used it was their [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_iAPX_432"]iAPX 432 (CPU) in 1981[/URL] which is way before Apple had even thought of using the "i" brand and Intel came with the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_i960"]i960 (CPU) in 1988.[/URL] Intel launched the i740 (GPU) in 1997, Apple came with their iMac in 1998 and their iPod was launched in 2000/2001.There are a couple of other Intel products that use the "i" brand name from Intel as well, although I'm to lazy to name those :p:. In other words, Intel has been using the "i" brand way longer than Apple has, although Intel used the "i" to represent Intel in the sense that i=Intel and Apple just uses it because it sounds cool.
Helmore @ Aug 10th 2008 5:07PM
I apparently can't edit my posts, so here is the properly readable post:
It is not really related and Intel has been using the "i" brand for a long long time. Their first CPU where they used it was their iAPX 432 (CPU) in 1981 which is way before Apple had even thought of using the "i" brand and Intel came with the i960 (CPU) in 1988. Intel launched the i740 (GPU) in 1997, Apple came with their iMac in 1998 and their iPod was launched in 2000/2001.There are a couple of other Intel products that use the "i" brand name from Intel as well, although I'm to lazy to name those :p:.
In other words, Intel has been using the "i" brand way longer than Apple has, although Intel used the "i" to represent Intel in the sense that i=Intel and Apple just uses it because it sounds cool.
Some linkies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_iAPX_432
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_i960
CraigJ @ Aug 10th 2008 5:54PM
don't forget the iAPX 286, i386 and the i486
Nytrojen @ Aug 10th 2008 8:34PM
I'm just waiting for Apple to come out with an "aPod"... or its educational counterpart: "ePod". I'm still working on the "jPod" - is one better than "i"
TEG @ Aug 10th 2008 4:56PM
So now it is officially the 786 processor. This is a much better solution to calling the 586 "Pentium".
TEG
Shadyman @ Aug 10th 2008 7:43PM
They only called the successor to the Pentium the Pentium II, because they couldn't very well call it the Sextium, and expect sales folk to say it without cracking up.
Decoy @ Aug 10th 2008 8:35PM
7 would be the Septium? Heptium?
Tomoki @ Aug 10th 2008 4:56PM
So, for the unlearned of us, how many cores is it?
Technophile @ Aug 10th 2008 4:58PM
8 I think
Helmore @ Aug 10th 2008 5:10PM
4, although it will act as if it has 8 cores. Which is the same as the Pentium 4 with HTT (HyperThreading) did, that had 1 core and acted as if it had 2 of 'em.
Hancock @ Aug 10th 2008 5:13PM
7, obviously. can't you people read??
loosely_coupled @ Aug 10th 2008 7:05PM
- 2 or 4 core CPUs for both laptop and desktop processors. Many dual core for either platform will have integrated GPUs in the CPU package.
- 4 core CPUs ("Gainestown" Xeon) for both single and dual processor (DP) workstations and servers
- 8 core CPUs ("Beckton" Xeon) for quad processor and higher (MP) servers. These will replace the 6-core, 45nm Core-based "Dunnington" Xeons.
Neoprimal @ Aug 10th 2008 7:26PM
"Initial products based on this microarchitecture are expected to be in production in the fourth quarter of this year. These processors will feature Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology, also known as simultaneous multi-threading, and are capable of handling eight software "threads" on four processor cores."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_i7
Hopefully that clears your question up.
Ridgecity @ Aug 10th 2008 4:56PM
This is probably related to "Hackintosh" due to that "i"...
tony @ Aug 10th 2008 9:12PM
Like other people have said, Intel has been using the i way before Apple ever did. Jeez, either know what you're talking about or leave the unnecessary Apple comments out of things.
caleb @ Aug 10th 2008 11:52PM
You're like, such a fanboy. Gosh!