The end of the Pentium M era

Darius Chang | Jan 04, 2006

The first Intel processor made specifically for the needs of the mobile platform, the Pentium M chip heralded the age of the Centrino platform. However, the next generation of notebook processors will be stepping away from this ancestry with brand new monikers.

Since the launch of the Centrino platform in 2003, Pentium M processors have become a ubiquitous chip in all Intel-based notebooks. Created specifically to meet the demands of mobile computing, these chips have become synonymous with low power usage at minimal performance sacrifices.

The next generation of the Centrino platform, codenamed Napa, will be hosting the Yonah chip. The new processor will no longer bear the Pentium M branding. Instead, as part of a corporate-wide rebranding effort, the Yonah chip will have two distinct designations. The single-core series will be denoted with the Solo Inside logo, while the dual-core versions will be recognized by the Duo Inside sticker.

Unlike its predecessors, which were differentiated mainly by processor clock cycles and front side bus speed, the latest processor lineup will have a multitude of variants to cater to different market segments. From integrated antivirus to execution instruction sets, you may eventually acquire the equivalent of a tertiary education in computer science while learning to decipher which chip is suitable for the task in hand. Intel new logos