News
Intel To Unveil Single Brand for New Chips
Intel Corp. on Monday plans to unveil a single brand name for a new generation
of chips for laptop PCs and desktop machines, calling them the Core 2 Duo.
The company is counting on the chips, which are based on a new design, to regain
market share lost to several high-performing chips made by competitor Advanced
Micro Devices Inc. Intel's new architecture, dubbed "Core," delivers
two processors on a single chip, driving better performance while consuming
less power.
Core 2 Duo will phase out the Pentium 4 brand for desktop processors and the
Core Duo for laptop chips. The older brands were based on two different designs.
The chips, code-named Conroe for desktops and Merom for laptops, are scheduled
to start shipping in the third quarter.
The single architecture will make it easier for software engineers to make
programs that run well on both desktop and mobile PCs, according to a press
release.
Intel also plans to announce it will name a high-performance processor for
computer gamers the Core 2 Extreme.
Intel executives said in March the Conroe will deliver 40 percent better performance
and consume 40 percent less power. During the past few years, power efficiency
has emerged as a key selling point, as the costs of powering computers and keeping
them cool have grown.
The Core 2 Duo use a new manufacturing process that shrinks the size of a chip's
circuitry. That allows Intel to put more transistors on a single chip, lowering
manufacturing costs and boosting performance and power efficiency.