Intel removing Centrino from notebooks

Intel will be focusing on the new Core i3, i5 i7 from next year.

“The fact of the matter is, we have a complex structure with too many platform brands, product names, and product brands, and we've made things confusing for consumers and IT buyers in the process”- was what Bill Calder, Intel corporate communications manager, have to say about the company’s latest brand restructuring. What he actually implies is Intel is supposedly giving up older brands like Centrino to start with. It’s a brand used by Intel to help consumers identify a set of technologies for notebooks.

They are going to focus on the brand Intel Core, which includes the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and shortly available will be the Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. Core i3 and Core i5 are new modifiers and join the previously announced Intel Core i7 to round out the family structure. “It is important to note that these are not brands but modifiers to the Intel Core brand that signal different features and benefits.”- says Bill Carber. For example, upcoming processors such as Lynnfield (desktop) will carry the Intel Core brand name, but will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability. Clarksfield (mobile) will have the Intel Core i7 name.

Intel’s aim to bring their offerings of various ranges under one roof named Intel Core. The same brand will range from high-end (Core i7) to entry-level (Core i3) offerings. Point to be noted that Celeron will still exist at the bottom of the flow chart. So it’ll be Celeron at the bottom, then Pentium and then Core ate the top.

Centrino is a marketing initiative from Intel. It is not a CPU, nor a chipset - rather, the term covers a particular combination of mainboard chipset, mobile CPU and wireless network interface in the design of a laptop. Intel claims systems equipped with these technologies deliver better performance, longer battery life and broad wireless network interoperability. The Centrino marketing initiative has been widely assumed to be responsible for the success of Intel-based laptop PCs which promote WiFi.