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Intel Announces New, Slower, Chip

kshkval writes "According to Business Week, Intel is marketing the Centrino, a 1.6 Ghz chip that is slower than previous laptop processors from Intel, but does more. Hey, isn't that what Apple and AMD have gotten so much guff about? The worm turns..."

32 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. Go INTEL! by naelurec · · Score: 5, Funny

    A better built, more efficient chip .. I like it. Though since its winter, I'll stick with my AMD chips to keep me warm.

    1. Re:Go INTEL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      One has to realize that the new chip competes directly with the Transmetia Processors, not with Intel P4. So instead of looking at it as a step back 1.5 Ghz, look at it as an increase of 600 Mhz over the 1 Ghz Crusoe. I wonder what the will market it as (fade to daydream of "Intel-Pentium-4-Mobile-Hyperthreading-Altra-Mobil e")

    2. Re:Go INTEL! by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 5, Funny

      (fade to daydream of "Intel-Pentium-4-Mobile-Hyperthreading-Altra-Mobil e")

      ***Error. Your fade has been interrupted and your laptop put to sleep mode due to low battery.

    3. Re:Go INTEL! by juggleme · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, you'll need to get one of the new 3.06 GHz P4s; it's power dissipation is above and beyond any Athlon. The highest an Athlon ever got was ~74 W max; the current P4 has an average of 81 W and a max of ~105 W.

      http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000365

  2. from the because-you-don't-need-3ghz-HT-laptops... by dynoman7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    we don't?!?!

    --
    Blarf.
  3. New marketing, just wait by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps now we will see a new wave of marketing, measuring and such from Intel, although I doubt it.

    They have made a tremendous amount of money due to the ignorance of "moms and dads" who assume that bigger numbers mean faster computer.

    They are more typically going to say "yea, but this is for laptops only, they are different" and still focus the race on ghz. I mean, you can't blame them. their job is to make money for their shareholders, not impress /.ers with their honesty.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    1. Re:New marketing, just wait by Sebastopol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I mean, you can't blame them. their job is to make money for their shareholders, not impress /.ers with their honesty.

      Yup. Just like Apple, AMD, IBM, Oracle, Sun, Motorola, Microsoft, RedHat, and just about every other corporation except maybe Ben & Jerry's.

      --
      https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
    2. Re:New marketing, just wait by Ponty · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unilever: Because you only need one Lever.

  4. Sideways-ass logo by clmensch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it me or is that logo a two-colored sideways ass? Awful.

    --
    There is no gravity...the earth just sucks.
  5. Take that! by CommieBozo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Moore's Law doesn't stand a chance!

  6. Not a processor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Centrino is not a single processor but a "mobile technology" including microprocessor, wireless networking, etc.

    Processor is a misnomer.

  7. Yay! Moore's law in reverse! by CoolVibe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool, what will we get in 40 years? Do we get the ENIAC back? Now _that_ is what I call a computer. Woohoo!

  8. Re:Wow .... by enos · · Score: 5, Funny

    just in time for Valentines day

    because nothing says 'you're hot!' like a new processor...

    --
    boldly going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse
  9. Re:"bout time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They were going to use experimental "Centium" chips, but they smashed them all together accidentally. The results were virtual processors, dubbed "centrinos" by physicists. Make absolutely sure you don't place your centrinos by anticentrinos. Also, the chips have a small mass, and count as dark matter.

  10. This isn't about the speed. by Eneff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Looking at the press release, Intel outlined three priorities:

    o extended battery life
    o thinner and lighter form factors
    o outstanding mobile performance

    This is a chip to compete on the Transmeta level, if you will. The message is "If you want better battery life and acceptable performance, buy this."

    The megahertz myth is irrelevant here.

  11. Beware! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't let your Centrinos collide with Anti-Centrinos, or you'll get a huge explosion that will rain Pentinos, Athlinos, and other junk.

  12. Intel needs a new mantra by path_man · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Before, the chant was "High MHz good! Higher MHz better! GHz is the best!" Now, since the general public is no longer susceptible to the pimply-faced kid at CompUSA who convinces ma & paw that a 2.4GHz is indeed 17% faster than a 2.0GHz, Intel needs to shift gears and change their tune.

    The really sad part about the entire remarketing campaign is that they will get away with it. The general public has a very short memory for these kinds of stunts -- just look at how well Microsoft is doing after countless screwings over of the populace. Windows ME anyone?

    The thing to remember is that with enough marketing funds, you can indeed have success even selling snow to eskimos.

    --
    The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. -- Calvin & Hobbes
  13. Logo? by cascino · · Score: 5, Funny

    The new Intel Centrino mobile technology brand name will be represented by a new logo carrying the famous Intel Inside® mark. The logo, featuring a striking magenta color and a completely new shape, suggests flight, mobility, and forward movement.
    Yeah, either that, or "disposable feminine product"

    1. Re:Logo? by Soko · · Score: 5, Funny

      My first was thought that someone pulled 2 of the wings off of the MSN butterfly.

      Saaayyyyy.....

      Soko

      --
      "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
  14. In related news by blurfus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Intel discovers that size isn't everything...

    --
    will work for Karma
  15. at an Intel Sales seminar I attended once... by unicorn · · Score: 4, Funny

    A couple years ago I went to an intel sales seminar for retail salespeople (amazing how you can dummy a paystub with photoshop, and a scanner) and halfway through the presentation the trainer threw out "Who knows what iComp is?"

    The entire room lost it when I yelled back "A cheesy marketing ploy!"

    --
    "Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
  16. Re:Rocket Science by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "I for one enjoy a snappy machine."

    I would agree with that comment if we were talking about a desktop machine. But we're not, we're talking about laptops, and they're more specialized than desktops.

    Laptops are:

    1.) Very mobile
    2.) Very Powerful
    3.) Very efficient with batteries

    The catch is that you can only pick two of the three.

    See my point?

  17. Re:New marketing, just wait (commercial) by $$$$$exyGal · · Score: 5, Funny
    New Commercial from Intel:
    *Man takes off his pants and forlornly looks down at his crotch.* "Don't worry!", says the hot naked chick, "Size doesn't matter!". *The man happily jumps in the bed and starts pumping his hips faster than a llama can spit.* "HEY!", yells the hot mama, "SLOW DOWN! It's not the speed, it's how you use it." *Commercial cuts to Intel CEO wearing a suit, sitting in a leather chair*

    --sex

    --
    Very popular slashdot journal for adul
  18. Centrino 'Mobile Technology' by statikuz · · Score: 5, Informative
    The article claims that "Intel is marketing the Centrino, a 1.6 Ghz chip". However... as I understood from the information on Intel's site, the Centrino ISN'T the actual chip, but a set of components:

    * Intel® Pentium® M Processor
    * Intel® 855 chipset family
    * Intel® PRO/Wireless network connection

    Further explaining:
    Intel Corporation said today Intel® Centrino(TM) mobile technology is the new brand name for its upcoming wireless mobile computing technology.
  19. in Q3 2003.. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Intel will announce "Centrino with Wings, for those heavy flow days."

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  20. OK, it's finally started by theCat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    AMD said several months ago they are getting out of the megahertz race and focusing on application of technology, meaning doing more with the die space instead of doing faster. Intel is now taking back leadership by...being sure to have a slower chip than AMD that does still MORE with the die space.

    The speed race is over. You will continue to hear about who has the fastest, but it will be more "gee whiz" stuff than "I need that" because you just won't need it. Before long you won't be able to even FIND a retail desktop computer that runs over 2Ghz, and when you open the hood it will have ONE chip in it, right in the center of the logic board. In the end probably everything sold as a desktop system will have power consumption below that of today's laptop computers, power supplies the size of a deck of cards, no fan, 1.8 inch HDD, wireless input on all I/O (including the monitor) and the whole thing will fit in a pocket and run for an hour on a built-in backup UPS battery, thus finally bluring the distinction between what is a portable computer and what is not.

    Think iPod on steroids, and yes you will use your "portable desktop Pee Cee" to listen to MP3s most of the time, using a wireless headset.

    That's just the way it is going folk, because with all the price pressure that is where the profit will be. Besides, all that sounds tre kewl to me!

    Give it...what? Two years? Now that the race has turned to "less is more" it might not even take that long. And to the winner go the spoils.

    --
    =^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
  21. Laugh all you like... by Corvaith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...but I can't be the only girl who'd rather get hardware than flowers or chocolate.

    Can I?

  22. Mutant and Mobile by l33t-gu3lph1t3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The "Centrino" which was previously known by the codename "Banias" is the first ever CPU Intel has designed specifically for mobile computing.

    It's the combination of the a mutant P3 with the quad-pumped P4 bus, SSE2, lots of power-saving tricks, and an assload of L2 cache (1MB!).

    From the limited previews I have seen of it, these things are quite nice, especially with Intel combining the new CPU with mainboard built-in wireless networking adapter. They perform well, and do consume significantly less power than any other mobile chip (excluding the Transmeta CPU, as I have come to the conclusion that they never really existed outside of Japan. Have you seen one in North America?).

    "Centrino" is now officially branded Pentium-M...a rather obvious naming strategy IMHO, but a good one. Look out next year, once Intel has its 90nm fabrication process up and running, we should see "Dothan" code-named CPUs...with 2MB L2 cache...mmm

    Btw, this news story is old, Slashdot admins, pick up the slack!

    --
    ------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
  23. Re:"bout time... by Ponty · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's the particle released when you smash together two Apple Centris Macs. Because there aren't many Centrises available anymore, they couldn't use as many Centrinos per chip as they wanted, so they had to drop the speed back down to 1.6GHz.

  24. Is that chip gay? by n1ywb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't tell if the Centrino logo looks like a pink triangle or a broken heart.

    There is a huge market for slower chips. Slower == less power. Less power is great for mobile computing where the foremost concern is battery life. The XScale is a good example of where slower is better. Why don't they just shrink 400mhz Pentiums and cram them into pocket pc's? Because the XScale uses a tiny fraction of the power that any Pentium uses.

    Don't forget also that cooling is becoming a limiting factor in CPU design. Not everybody wants their computer to sound like a jet turbine or have water running through it. As "embedded" CPUs like the ARM and XScale get faster, you may start to see them in more traditionally "desktop" applications. Electricity is expensive and low power computers can save money.

    And I still don't understand why everyone equates CLOCK RATE with SPEED. Do people think high frequency EM waves travel faster than slower ones, or something? There are have been MANY examples over the last 10 years of CPUs that get more done at a lower clock rate.

    --
    -73, de n1ywb
    www.n1ywb.com
  25. Actually, its a combination brand. by jbischof · · Score: 5, Informative
    Actually Centrino, which has been posted about in slashdot already, is not a new chip.

    The Centrino Brand is a combination of three main things.

    1. The new Banias processor
    2. The Montara 852/855 Chipset
    3. Integrated 802.11b
    This means that mobile computer makers can make new lighter, faster, cheaper, and colder laptops.

    Centrino computers are designed for Mobile features, which doesn't always neccesarily mean speed. Banias runs colder than comparable processors from Intel, it has a host of new features to support all the crazy things laptops want to do (Better power management, bus control, hotkey support, more feature rich graphics etc...)

    Intel is trying to jump on the new Mobile computing pattern. There is less and less of a focus on the absolute fastest processor and more of a focus on different ways (espeically easier ways) of using your computer. I mean who really uses all of their cpu cycles on a 3Ghz P4 with HT anyway (some people but not most)?

    When wireless really picks up and people have reliable, quick, super lightweight laptops that can easily fit in a backpack or briefcase sales might pickup like Intel hopes.

  26. Re:"bout time... by JebusIsLord · · Score: 4, Funny

    Actually i believe a Pentium-4 decays naturally into an Athlon, a Duron, and an anti-centrino.

    --
    Jeremy