Analysis - Intel attempts to simplify CPU offering

[HEXUS]

With no fanfare that we?re aware of, Intel has redesigned its CPU logos and created a rating system for them.

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[TAKTAK]

Soooo, the new logo is just a corner of the old logo that's been stuck on a wafer?

It does look better though...

[shaithis]

Not too sure on the rating.....although I guess changing all the model numbers at such a late stage would be confusing and the rating system isn't a bad compromise.


I hope they learn from this and come up with a more intuitive naming scheme going forward.

Badges do look nice though.

[kalniel]

Good idea for here and now. But what happens when new processors are released and formerly high end rated chips become less high end? If they'd just used a number of stars without the white ones giving it an 'out of' measure it would have worked.

[scaryjim]

The thing that leaps out at me is how much they're pushing "Core" as the brand - the 2 and i7 distinguishers are barely noticable in comparison, and "Extreme", "Quad" and "Duo" are also very understated. Presumably Intel felt their brand image was being fragmented; the message here seems to be that the Core i7, Core 2 Quad / Extreme and Core 2 Duo / Extreme are all part of the same family of "Core" processors, not distinct families.

Label colours are interesting too: the Desktop system seems to work well, with the extreme editions in black at the top of the chart, the mainstream in Blue and the budget parts down at the bottom in white. By comparison, the laptop market seems confused, with all the different colours mixing at all levels - I personally wouldn't have used the slivery / white for Centrino as it is very similar to the plain white for Pentium / Celeron, and gives the impression that these are low-end parts, when some of them are in the highest performance bracket!

I'm interested that Intel feel this is a worthwhile use of resources though, given the huge market inertia in their favour - it suggests that they are starting to get worried about market share...

[matty-hodgson]

i want one
only bought my i7 a month ago and i have to make do with a boring old normal sticker

[Saracen]

i want one
only bought my i7 a month ago and i have to make do with a boring old normal sticker

Well, helpful and considerate bloke that I am, I'll offer you a solution to your dilemma. You merely need to give me your "old" i7, and buy a new one. I'll even let you keep the old sticker as well.

Aren't I helpful?

[=assassin=]

Seems like a complete waste of time IMO

[Singh400]

I could have swore that they moved from "Intel Inside" to "Intel Leap Ahead"? Or did I just dream that?

[Dreaming]

Seems like a common sense approach, by its nature of being a technical component CPUs are normally beyond the comprehension of non-IT peeps, normally boiling down to 'this one is good', 'this one is not good'. The classic asymettric information problem it leads to allows retailers such as PC world to con ordinary peeps quite well. (no joke, they still sell LAN cables for £30)

Still, even with the new categorisation, I think you could run most things on the lowest end of the scale. I have a pretty fast gaming rig and am still running an e6300 because the hardware improved so fast so quickly there aren't any applications out there (other than benchmarking ) that can actually put any real stress on it.