Intel To Rebrand Processors In 2008

DJ notes that TechARP has up a look at Intel's plans to rebrand their processors, including what must be a leaked internal chart of the old and new landscape of product names. This story doesn't seem to have been picked up anywhere else yet. Quoting: "We just heard from an anonymous source that Intel will be rebranding their processors in 2008... These new brand names will come into effect on the first day of 2008. Intel hopes that these new brands will not only leverage the strong Core 2 brand but also make it less confusing for the consumer. At the moment, the Intel Centrino mobile platform has five different logos with brands like Centrino, Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro. Starting from January 1, 2008, Intel will consolidate the Centrino Duo and Centrino brands under the Intel Centrino brand, and rename the Centrino Pro as Intel Centrino with vPro Technology."

Re-rebranding?

[BarlowBrad]

Didn't Intel just rebrand dropping "Pentium" and going with "Core"?

Naming processors

[Baron_Yam]

Would it be too hard to name them: Intel [marketing name] [standard benchmark rating]?

Then, for those who want more - socket/clock/cache/whatever.

This actually makes sense, needs to be expanded

[Eponymous Crowbar]

I have been a hands-on techie since the days of the 386. That means I am overdue for a severe case of Alzheimer's and a possible touch of Delusional Managementitis. After those two factors, Intel's stupid naming schemes are confusing enough that I don't bother trying to remember the differences between their processor families. It's definitely easier to buy AMD. But I know I would spend the extra time to work out the differences if I wanted to build a new box. That can't be what Intel's marketing people are hoping for -- "Buy Intel, if you really want to" just isn't a very appealing line.

[vV].+

[paul248]

Well, it's not like anybody ever knew what vPro and VIIV were for in the first place.

Get back to model numbers...

[B5_geek]

I know why they stopped doing it, but I wish these CPU * Video card companies would use actual model numbers ala 386SX/386DX, 486DX/486Dlc etc...

I also know that lead to ridiculous over use that we currently see in video cards 9800XX-Max-Super-X.

It might actually bring back some truth to the consumer.
686-Mobile/2.2GHz vs 686/3GHz vs 4c868/1.8Ghz

Exactly

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

God. What stupid and uninformative names.

They convey neither a perception and ready identification of the product's capability - nor do they associate with anything meaningful - allowing for that association to transfer value to the named object.

Just call them like motorcars and aeroplanes - when these were sensible.

"The Intel Mark VIII C" "The Intel Mark V plus"

They could at least be compared reasonably in relation to each other.

AMD, don't follow suit!

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems that Intel has excess manpower in marketting and they're just giving them makework to keep them busy. Everything beyond Core 2 Duo for desktop and Xeon for servers simply spreads confusion. More just isn't needed.

AMD, just stick to Athlon 64 and Opteron, plus a number which increases as the chip gets faster, and you'll do a lot better.

One extra name for mobile use is OK too, but Intel's use of composite words is just moronic. Not even died in the wool techies have any idea what all the ViiV and vPro crap is.

Translation:

[dpbsmith]

A new manager has just arrived. He found the old product name confusing.

Unfortunately, they're confusing for a good reason: the product line is complex.

So, he'll impose a new set of names on it. He will think the new names are less confusing, because they make sense to him. And he says it will make things less confusing for customers, because he projects his own feeling onto his customers. And perhaps the new names really are a little less confusing.

But in reality it will make things more confusing, because of the name change.

The people who actually did understand the old names will be confused by the new ones, and the people who learn the new ones will be confused whenever they have to deal with legacy memos or documentation that uses the old ones, and everyone who is deeply involved in the products will have to carry around with a little wallet-sized conversion table around them with both sets of names on them.

Meanwhile, the average customer won't be aware of anything other than the processor brand (Intel) and the clock rate.

Re:from a trusted source

[netmansam]

>> when has Intel ever simplified the brands to make things easier?

Um, unless you're less than 15 years old, you should remember clearly...

There was that somewhat notable time after their fourth generation (fifth model) of processors with names the simplest of which was like 80486-66 or 80486-SX15 or 80486DX-50, to their fifth generation of processors, called simply:

Pentium

(so named supposedly because they couldn't trademark 80586)

That seems both simpler, a more recognizable model line, AND easier?

Subsequent lines also made sense (for a while):

Pentium MMX
Pentium Pro
Pentium II
Pentium III
Pentium 4

Then, it got confusing, sure, but for nearly a decade they had a good thing going with easy to understand simplification (my own opinion, for sure)

Re:Intel's marketing drones are crazy

[gEvil (beta)]

And naturally you scrapped any materials that had any registration problems, right? : p

Opportunity for Intel

[pickapeppa]

As resident IT guy for kith and kin, I get asked about this all the time. And frankly, unless I happened to have payed attention recently, I can't really give a straight answer. I have a job, a girlfriend, a cat, and other stuff to do. Intel had it easy with the Pentiums, higher numbers (Roman numerals and price) were better. Now, as has been correctly pointed out here, it's more complex. They really need to return to the simpler format for regular PC buyers. Something like MyIntel 1,2,3,etc... to market chips for the folks and ProIntel for the widget fiddlers among us who Need to Know.

Re:I thought the whole point was to confuse the us

[Anonymous Coward]

Faster than a Pentium 5373. Which bit of this is hard? The chips are the the Core 2. The Core 2 exists both in Duo (2 core) and Quad (4 core) configuration. Then there is the numerical designation. Bigger numbers are better - the 2xxx series are the slower (but highly overclockable) chips, the 4xxx Series are the laptop-like cut down slightly chips, and the 6xxx series are the fastest and most expensive.

So, to recap: Bigger numbers are better.

And if you want to compare them to AMD? Go read a benchmark relevant to the task you wish to perform, the numbers haven't been comparable since the 486 anyway.