Intel releases plans for Core 2 Duo

First, before I start, I just would like to say that every single article that I read on the Intel renaming was utterly confusing and deliberately dumb which is the reason I especially wanted to write about this subject when I intended not to.

Now on to the news. Intel today has renamed the next-gen Conroe and Merom chips to "Core 2 Duo" which as you can tell is the sequel to the Core Duo. As it seems, Core Duo is turning into the new Pentium. Pentium, known for its sequential generations, is the predecessor to the Core Duo and has carried Intel for 13 years.

The Pentium seems to have reached the end of the road and the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo will be the new path for Intel.

The Conroe chips were the code-named chips for the next-gen chips for desktops while Merom was for notebooks. Now both will be named Core 2 Duo. To differentiate the Conroe chips will be named with numbers 4000 and 6000 while Merom will have numbers 5000 and 7000. The numbers will be preceded by a letter that represent the power-consumption of the chip. This is much like AMD's numbering system and represents Intel's move to gain back the advantage that they once had.

The Conroe chip (Core 2 Duo 4000 or 6000) will arrive in July and the Merom chip (Core 2 Duo 5000 and 7000) will arrive in August.

Now of course, Intel's move affects another realm of the computer world besides PCs. What I am talking about are Macs. Apple's MacBook release, according to rumors, will occur this Tuesday, May 9th. This means that it will not receive the next Merom chip. I expect that these new chips will appear alongside leopard to compensate for the possible demands of the new Operating System. Interestingly enough, I have heard many reports that Leopard will require some drastic speed performances. This is pure speculation on my part but the theory does seem to gel with the facts. In August, Apple will first reveal looks and demonstrations on Leopard which will be the same time that Merom and the last Core 2 Duo chips will be released.

By the time Leopard is finally introduced I expect to see some Core 2 Duos in Apple computers.

These new Intel chips will mark a new path for Intel and should make some significant headway against AMD. The conceding of the number system shows Intel's efforts to win the battle against AMD and I think will allow them to do so.

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Tags: Merom, Conroe, Core 2 Duo, Core Duo, Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core Duo, PC, PCs, Mac, Macs, Apple, steve jobs, leopard, OS X, Mac OS X, Mac OS 10.5, OS 10.5, MacBook, Macbooks, MacBook Pro, MacBook Pros, AMD, AMD numbering system, AMD's numbering system