Intel Denies Plans to Can Celeron Processor Brand

From X-bit Labs: Intel Corp. said that it would not shelve its Celeron-branded microprocessors either this or next year. Nonetheless, the company has not disclosed any plans about updating the lineup of its Celeron chips with newer offerings.

"The rumor is not true, Intel has no plan to phase out the Celeron brand in 2011. Intel Celeron processors continue to provide a low-cost computing solution for basic computing needs," said Barry Sum, an Intel spokesman, reports ComputerWorld web-site.

The new 2010 family of microprocessors – based on Arrandale, Clarkdale, Clarksfield and Lynnfield designs – are available at various price-points and under different brands, including Core i as well as Pentium. But the Celeron microprocessors listed in Intel’s price-list, which are meant to power affordable systems, are still based on the Core 2 micro-architecture. Based on the desktop roadmaps seen by X-bit labs, Celeron chips that are intended for mass market are not projected to receive Clarkdale/Nehalem or Sandy Bridge cores.

In case Intel wants to keep Celeron family – which is now responsible for 5% - 6% volume of desktop chips by the company – alive, it will has to introduce new processors to keep it competitive and up-to-date. However, the company updates Core, Pentium and Atom lineups, whereas Celeron family receives novelties pretty rarely.

Eliminating Celeron brand will naturally make Atom chips a default option for low-cost low-power systems, but the gap in performance between Atom and Pentium will naturally be gigantic thanks to the fact that the latter utilizes state-of-the-art micro-architectures.

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