Intel rebrands: Core i3, i5, i7 are in, Centrino on the outs

Intel's doing some spring cleaning on its branding structure, adding new Cores on the block. Joining the high-level Core i7 series will be the mid range Core i5 in the coming months and the lower-end Core i3's early next year. To be more specific, the Lynnfield chipsets will be either i5 or i7 depending on the feature set, Clarkfield mobile chips will be i7, and the 32nm Arrandale will at least at first fall under i3. Of course, with the new gang in town, some older monikers will be going wayside, and getting the slow fade out are Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and Centrino, the latter being eventually marginalized for WiMAX and WiFi products only. Making the cut are Celeron, Pentium, and the ever-resilient Atom names. We're a bit sad to know there will never be a Core 2 Dodeca, but hey, it's only a name, right?. Hit up the read link for more details, including a video interview with Intel's VP of Marketing Deborah Conrad.

[Via CNET]

Read - Intel's New Brand Structure Explained
Read - Fewer Brands, Greater Impact

[Luke @ Jun 17th 2009 8:15PM]

bye Centrino, it was fun =)

hello "i" series, how are you doing?

[a ham sandwich @ Jun 17th 2009 8:51PM]

man, somebody has got to sit down and have a chat with intel's marketing people. that absolutely MUST simplify this naming scheme. it's a little ridiculous.

on the plus side, at least now we won't have the disparity between the core 2 duo generation and the core i7 generation. talk about a mess...

[CleverEndeavor @ Jun 17th 2009 9:31PM]

i7=best
i5=better
i3=good
Pentium=average
Celeron=basic
atom=netbooks and etc.

at least thats how i understand it.

[mirakutea @ Jun 17th 2009 10:04PM]

So the Core 2 Architecture based chips will be renamed to Pentium ?

[Ryan @ Jun 17th 2009 11:59PM]

You can actually get the break down on what specs will indicate which brand here: http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=7357

[Zane @ Jun 18th 2009 2:11AM]

Core i7 = f*king awesome
i5 = great
i3 = alright
pentium = meh
celeron = crap
atom = worthless

That's until the i9 comes out sometime in the future.

[E71 @ Jun 18th 2009 12:19PM]

Getting sick of tired of the constant re-branding... Maybe they should just can pick something and stay with it for longer than a year or two.

...Also, what's this i-Crap? Where did this arbitrary naming come from...?

[Kevin @ Jun 17th 2009 8:22PM]

So why can't they get rid of Pentium already?

[iofthestorm @ Jun 17th 2009 9:06PM]

It is seriously THE name that won't die. Damnit. It's been a misnomer ever since the 686 too...

[Xoyuji @ Jun 17th 2009 9:49PM]

Aint that the truth im so damn sick of reading shit that says Intel Pentium 4 X.X Ghz.
If there going to keep the Pentium name at least name all your damn chips that then add I,1-7 on them either use the name or get rid of it.

[B3astofthe3ast @ Jun 17th 2009 8:23PM]

Reminds me of BMW's branding for it's car's.

[jon @ Jun 17th 2009 8:35PM]

Somehow I don't think this naming paradigm is going to be as straight forward as BMW's.


Things just got much simpler or much more complicated, I'm not sure which.

[jon @ Jun 17th 2009 10:04PM]

"For example, upcoming processors such as Lynnfield (desktop) will carry the Intel Core brand, but will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability."



Yeah, things didn't get simpler.

[nikster @ Jun 17th 2009 10:29PM]

The difference is BMWs line-up is very clear and simple, whereas Intel's is bound to be just as confusing as it was before.

[Nick @ Jun 17th 2009 8:23PM]

aw i liked the centrino line...

[Matthew C @ Jun 18th 2009 1:37AM]

I had a hard time differentiating a centrino duo and core 2 duo mobile and such, but yeah - centrino just sounds cool.

[jon @ Jun 17th 2009 8:24PM]

Core i5 looks like a used car salesman.

[Orrett Junior @ Jun 17th 2009 8:24PM]

New Kids on the Block are Intel powered?

[Oliver @ Jun 17th 2009 8:28PM]

Odd numbers? My OCD only lets me use things that are even numbered.

[cmonkey @ Jun 17th 2009 10:48PM]

More than likely to avoid any confusion between the model number and the number of cores the chip has. I'm sure 4 core Core 2 cpus confused some people.

[DR House @ Jun 17th 2009 8:30PM]

Core i7 Quad 2.500 on laptops for 200$ please

[nicky @ Jun 17th 2009 8:35PM]

saw the i3 coming soon as i heard about i5 a while back. and then when the 32 die shrink comes along they can jump to core i4, i6, i8.
simple

[nicky @ Jun 17th 2009 8:39PM]

so i didn't read the article properly, but appart from the 32nm bit

[Casper42 @ Jun 17th 2009 8:53PM]

I think the next tock (or is it tick?) after 32nm shrink will use those names you mentioned though.

[Nick Soapes @ Jun 17th 2009 8:37PM]

I'm going to be getting a new macbook pro next spring to reward myself for successful completion of my graduate program. I'm hoping for a Core i7 macbook pro with a quad-core clarksfield processor.

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 17th 2009 8:41PM]

Im afraid the macbook pro line-up will be just the same as now next spring. And I dont think we will see a quad macbook pro in the near future. Sadly, if you want a Proputer, customize a PC or get a desktop. Still the 13inch macbook pro is more attractive now since they added firewire and esata.

[Nick Soapes @ Jun 17th 2009 8:45PM]

I don't know about that. Apple typically upgrades the their lineup early in the fall after the back-to-school promotion ends. Since the clarksdale processors will be out in Q3, they might decide to put those in the macbook pros at that time. If not, there is often a spec bump some time during the spring or early summer as well. That might be the time that they go to quad-core processors in the macbook pros. Since I'll be buying April/May of next year, there is still a reasonable amount of hope that I may end up with a quad-core macbook pro!

[Michael Scrip @ Jun 17th 2009 8:46PM]

@Boards of Canada

esata?

[crsh @ Jun 17th 2009 8:47PM]

There's sadly no eSATA port on any of the Macbook Pros.

[ethana2 @ Jun 17th 2009 9:25PM]

Yeah, I almost got really excited there for a moment. Pretty sure no eSATA. I wish.

[crsh @ Jun 17th 2009 8:40PM]

I guess it makes sense that C2D/C2Q are on the way out since LGA775 is done for after it exits the low-end market in 18-24 months from now, but Pentium lives on? And Celeron too? Centrino however never made much sense to me, just like the ill-fated Viiv label; instead of a name for a CPU or chipset, it was, what, just a package or targeted-market label?

[Taylor @ Jun 18th 2009 1:50AM]

Both of my computers (a Macbook and a Windows PC I built myself - yeah, how's that for different to what you expected?) are Core 2 Duo.

Core 2 for life.

[allenvanhellen @ Jun 17th 2009 8:42PM]

Intel: drop the 'inside' from the branding. No shit the processor is inside the computer. Fucktards.

[Epsilon-Not @ Jun 17th 2009 8:47PM]

"Intel inside" is a very well-known phrase, though. They might as well keep cashing in on the brand equity.

[allenvanhellen @ Jun 17th 2009 11:12PM]

Yeah, "Intel Inside" is a fine catch phrase, but I just don't think half of it belongs on the badge for every processor they sell. It's redundant and goofy.

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 17th 2009 8:43PM]

Just one question; I still believe in Quad2core solutions for cheap quad workstations. Is those are going to be eradicated or they just change the name?? I dont wanna pay for ddr3 and expensive mobo for the same amount of Ghz... the Core2quad series still have the best bang for the bucks for home render farm.

[crsh @ Jun 17th 2009 8:49PM]

I may be wrong here, but as far as I know there's really little point in going with a DDR3 setup when using a 775 socket CPU; a cheaper mobo and plenty of cheap DDR2 is already pretty darn good in my book.

[kal326 @ Jun 17th 2009 8:52PM]

The chips will exist in some form for some time to come, I doubt they are going to just stop fabbing the C2D/C2Q chips just because they changed to new naming schemes and rolled out a few new models. The products are mature and they are getting very good yields off of them. They will probably still be generally available in some form or another for at least 6-12 months, probably even longer in limited quantities. If anything they will be bumped to the "Celeron" bin brand eventually as they will be limited to 4 cores and 1 thread per core while the i(n) will be 6+ cores and hyperthreaded.

[Dragod @ Jun 17th 2009 8:58PM]

My guess is that i5 will be similar to Core 2 Quad as far as pricing. There's a sweet spot for midrange processors around $200, and I don't think anyone is going to say "Ah, what's another $50?" when they are comparing an older Core 2 Quad and an i5, if they weren't to keep similar prices.

[Boards of Canada @ Jun 18th 2009 1:40AM]

Thanks!!

[Stu L Tissimus @ Jun 17th 2009 8:54PM]

I thought i7 was so named because it was internally called the 786? Doesn't this sort of mess up that whole scheme?

[iofthestorm @ Jun 17th 2009 9:10PM]

That can't be correct, since the 586 was the Pentium and the 686 was the Pentium Pro. Wikipedia says that 786 was Pentium 4.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80786#Chronology

[apw76006 @ Jun 17th 2009 9:18PM]

I'm just waiting for Good, Gooder, Goodest.

[andres @ Jun 18th 2009 1:44AM]

personally i prefer double plus good.

[Nick Soapes @ Jun 19th 2009 2:08PM]

@andres

you must be a fan of 1984...

i am so high rating your post.

[sitruc @ Jun 17th 2009 9:19PM]

This simplifies the naming, I think.

[TheWakeUpCall @ Jun 19th 2009 7:08AM]

I don't have a f**king clue what they're talking about... and the way all of the codenames are still used along side the retail names... you actually have to research into the intel product line in some depth to understand any reports on intel.

eg. wtf is lynnfield.

[CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 17th 2009 10:03PM]

No! I was just getting the Centrinos!

[Jake @ Jun 17th 2009 10:28PM]

New names?

Intel is giving us the same existing products with the same performance with these new names.

The is a clever way for Intel to trick consumers into paying / buying more for same crap products.

[superhobo @ Jun 17th 2009 10:29PM]

Die, Centrino!

Especially those Proset wireless cards...pieces of crap (2200bg)