No more Pentium

[Steve]

Intel has made a lot of changes recently. It's got a new logo, new slogan, but most importantly a number of old and familiar names and slogans have had to go. Another can be added to the list now: Pentium. It seems odd that such a well known brand should go, but Intel is shifting its focus towards platforms, rather than individual components.

According to Krewell, the processor is becoming less important in Intel's product line-up: "Intel downplays the processor brand. The spotlight is on platforms such as Centrino," he said. He expects that the loss of Pentium will have a financial, impact, but believes that it will not large enough to hurt Intel: "They can throw an amazing amount of cash at branding as soon as a new product is announced."

Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, told TG Daily that Intel has informed OEM's some time ago that the Pentium brand will be going away. "Those OEM's are very upset about this decision. Pentium kept the product line-up somewhat in order. The complexity of Intel's products creates too many possibilities to put a system together. It's a nightmare," Enderle said.

[TG Daily]

Will it pay off? Let us know what you think.

[mike_w]

Obviously the guys at Intel have a much better idea of what to do than me, but I don't really understand this move. As Pyle says, people that know a bit are going for AMD instead... but simply dropping the name Pentium won't lure them back, while those not so savvy won't be able to find their processor anymore.

[krazy_olie]

People in the know aren't bothered by name changes, and people not in the know would regard pentium as the thing to get, but would most likely just get whatever the new name is in to their heads. So although I can't think of any negatives, I can't think of any positives either.

[trashcanmonkey]

Wow, again another slash at Intel's history. Not bothered much.
Ditto with the marketing, can't understand the move either. The only benefit is for a new product name for a newly branded company.......

[iranu]

I think they are getting rid of the pentium name because of the bad current performance and will want something new that does not have the association with hot prescotts when they release the faster chips based on the pentium-m architecture later in the year.

[Spud1]

A good idea I think. Although I totally disagree about those 'in the know' going for AMD over pentium (I think there are totally different reasons, mainly because the newer AMD chips are known for having a tiny bit more performance in gaming, and most people on this board are gamers...) the name change will do them good.

Each month or so you see a new Pentium, with a new clockspeed and half a dozen numbers/letters after it, it is confusing enough for us, let alone none-techies.

A new brand means they can start from scratch again, market it as an entirely new product (even if it's not much different), and people will buy it. It will have the intel branding which by itself means the chips wil sell, and with some clever advertising I think whatever the new name is will be just as common a name as pentium was.

[mike_w]

A new brand means they can start from scratch again, market it as an entirely new product (even if it's not much different), and people will buy it. It will have the intel branding which by itself means the chips wil sell, and with some clever advertising I think whatever the new name is will be just as common a name as pentium was.

...but, according to the article, there is no new name, just Intel and some numbers (and the odd letter). I still don't see how they'll benefit since they have nothing new or fresh to bring to the consumer (at least in terms of marketing).

[Steve]

There's no new processor branding as we know it because it's not about marketing the processor any more; it's about marketing the platform (ViiV, Centrino...)

[Spud1]

Ah sry I misread it
I'm sure there's a benefit in there somewhere, we just can't see it..

[mike_w]

Ah sry I misread it
I'm sure there's a benefit in there somewhere, we just can't see it..

Exactly, I'm trying to work out what the benefit is!

There's no new processor branding as we know it because it's not about marketing the processor any more; it's about marketing the platform (ViiV, Centrino...)

But why get rid of the Pentium brand? I'm sure there is still a huge amount of brand loyalty and recognition with the Pentium.

Still, I'm sure they have a much better grasp of marketing than me, so I'll be quiet and leave them to it!

[MrChris]

well as long as they bring back those adverts with the dancing guys in strange suits...now those pentium2 adverts were funny... but as said before i think a rebranding would be good after the shortfalls of te last series of pentium cpus...