Intel shifting Celeron, Pentium chips to Atom architecture

Intel's upcoming Atom tablet chip code-named Bay Trail will be repurposed for use in the company's Celeron and Pentium chips for entry-level laptops, desktops and all-in-ones, Intel said on Friday.

Intel's Bay Trail chip is based on the Atom architecture, which is in low-power smartphones, tablets, and netbooks. Beyond the tablet chip, Intel will release Bay Trail-M (mobile) and Bay Trail-D (desktop) parts, which will be available under the Celeron and Pentium brands, Intel spokeswoman Kathy Gill said in an e-mail.

Pentium and Celeron chips are used in low-cost PCs, and the move represents an architectural shift for those brands. It also represents Intel's wider reliance on Atom architecture for entry-level computing. Bay Trail is based on the Silvermont architecture, which Intel claims will be up to three times faster and five times more power efficient than older Atom cores.

Intel

Intel's Raejeanne Skillern holding Atom processors.

Silvermont will now power Intel Inside devices including entry-level PCs, tablets, smartphones and low-power servers. Intel is using Silvermont in its upcoming smartphone chips code-named Merrifield, which are due to ship early next year. Intel previously announced it would use Bay Trail in PCs, but did not announce branding for the new chips.

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Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040401/intel-shifting-celeron-pentium-chips-to-atom-architecture.html#tk.rss_all

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