The Intel processor line, according to one of our greatest artists, was once based on Pentium processors. This became less true starting in the mid-2000s, when the modern “Core”branding was created to emphasize the company’s then-new multi-core processor offerings. But sometimes it was about Pentium processors – Pentium and Celeron entered the modern era as brands of low-cost desktop and laptop processors.
But labels can be short-lived for this world, even in such a reduced scope. Intel announced today that its laptop chips will be getting rid of the Pentium and Celeron brands starting in the first quarter of 2023, and will be replaced by an “Intel processor.”The word “processor”is capitalized so as not to confuse an Intel processor with an Intel processor.
Intel vice president Josh Newman argues that bringing the Pentium and Celeron families under one nondescript umbrella “will simplify [Intel’s] offerings so that users can focus on choosing the right processor for their needs.”But this rebrand doesn’t necessarily mean a simplification of the lineup; Notebook Pentium and Celeron chips are split into two separate product families with two completely different architectures, one based on low-powered Atom cores, and the other based on the same Alder Lake architecture as Intel’s flagship processors. Assuming that Intel processors still have model numbers, they become even more important for people who want to know exactly which Intel processor they are buying.
We do not know how many Intel processors will be released in the first quarter of 2023 or what Intel processor architecture Intel processors will use. Intel also didn’t tell us if Intel’s low-end desktop processors will become Intel processors in the future (a company spokesperson only told us that Intel doesn’t have low-end desktop processors slated for release in Q1 2023). However, Intel processors currently using the Pentium and Celeron brands will continue to do so—they will not be retroactively rebranded as Intel processors.