Intel Centrino Atom becomes Atom, Atom still Atom, you're confused
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Aug 14th 2008 6:45AM
posted Aug 14th 2008 6:45AM
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Confused? I'm speechless ... almost.
Allow me explain. Laptops that have an Atom processor, an Intel WiFi card and an Intel Chipset will have the Atom inside sticker. Laptops which have only the Atom processor don't get the sticker.
There's always next time :P
Actually, I hope there will be NOT a next time..
whaaaaaaaa? HOw confusing. still, it's blue for boys... pink for....
"You're confused!"
"No I'm not..."
"YES YOU ARE"
First to fail.
No you don't get a cookie.
And there is no cake.
So... does this mean Eee users now have pseudo-Atoms too?
How can I mock them up with that?!? Where's the fun? WHERE'S THE FUN???
Also... the cake is a lie.
You can always count on Intel to make things more confusing when trying to make them easier to understand.. Is VIIV replacing Centrino as a laptop platform too? I mean, why stop there.. :P
Oh great, more deliberate ambiguity from Intel.
First, everyone forgets that there are two very different Atoms, Silverthorne and Diamondville, and continually assume one is the other. Now there is a third one?
Engadget, on behalf of your entire readership, I implore you to start referring to actual chip code names rather than a broad product class when discussing cpus.
Thankyou.
I am ok knowledgeable in computers but even with Intel product charts I cannot figure out WTF is going on with all the name changes.
I dread my next computer purchase.
wait another 5 days and its going to be "Intel Atom Inside" going to be "Intel Inside", while "Intel Inside" going to still be "Intel Inside".
why cant they have an outside?..so if it ever crashes i will break it instead of the screen
I know the OS crashes and not the CPU but i cant brake Software with my hands
*Wait
*it's
*is going to be
*"Intel Inside."
*Why
*can't
*So
*I
*screen.
*I
*can't
*break
*software
*hands.
Even with the corrections, I still have no clue what the fuck you're talking about.
I gave up after Conroe and Merom.
I'm still confused as to why Intel decided to re-design the Core 2 Duo by introducing like 583 different cores.
Why can't they stick to the codenames? There's some amount of distinction in those.
I sometimes strive to keep up with the microarchitecture naming and the code names, but it simply is useless. Its "cool" when they chip is debuted but the sparkle from names like "Nehalem" core and the like soon leaves as soon as people realize its just another processor as the ones before it, albeit with some improvements.
Oh right, well this is consumer friendly marketing for my 50 year old mother...
Why not just call the Atom (the nee Centrino Atom, not the plain Atom) the Intel Isotope and be done with it?
menlow? who thought of that name for a chipset?
As for name indecision, I am sure it happened before but we heard less of it since there were no news blogs etc. Yes I am being obvious, I know...
Not that confusing. Good thing I'm a bumbling moron with no grasp of technology, or this posting would seem rather condescending.
So, what is the *simplest* explanation for the difference between MIDs, UMPCs, netbooks, and ultra-portables?
if you wanna be really simple, they're all the same. Netbooks do more than MIDs and UMPC is just a tiny PC but they're all basically portable devices for connecting on the go.
they cost differently. The price range from lowest to highest is netbooks, MIDs, UMPCs, Ultraportables.
Here's a general size from smallest to largest: MIDs, UMPCs, Netbooks, Ultraportables. MIDs and UMPCs have either slide out keyboards or keyboards on the same plane as the screen. Netbooks and Ultraportables are small laptops.
You still with me? Good.
Processing power from slowest to fastest: MIDs, Netbooks, UMPCs, Ultraportables.
Battery life: too confusing to list. Some of these devices have really long battery life and some have almost none. I guess the smaller the device, the longer the battery life, but really it's based on the battery.
Then again, do you really need internet that badly to go through all this trouble?
Next they'll decide to call the Intel Atom (32bit) IA-32 and Intel Atom 64bit IA-64.
you guys crack me up.
Confusing? NOT AT ALL!
Why? Because Intel switches names from time to time to keep you from selling your old stuff to get new... So Centrino Duo? Not anymore, Intel Core Duo Mobile Extreme... Try to explain that even if your computer has a Centrino Duo sticker it's soul is the same as the Intel Dual Core Furious Engine??? "Yours is older".
DON'T WORRY
MIDs and UMPCS account for less than 1% of the market, and I think are pretty useless now netbooks have taken off and replaced market share, too expensive, nowhere to type (generalisation) so this shouldn't really shake anything up for buyers (all 2 of them)