Silverthorne Gets a Name: Meet Intel Atom and Intel Centrino Atom
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 2, 2008 6:00 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Ultra Mobile Centrino Platform
Alongside the Atom, Intel is also announcing a new category of the Centrino brand to be targeted at mobile devices. Quite logically, this will be called Intel Centrino Atom. This isn't a brand for normal notebook computers, this is a brand for mobile Internet devices (mids). While ultra portable notebooks and even low power desktops may chose to make use of Atom, they will not be branded as Centrino Atom.
![](https://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/intel/atom/intelatomc.jpg)
The specific requirements for Centrino Atom are as follows:
Intel Atom (Silverthorne) CPU Poulsbo chipset, Wifi and/or 3G, and/or Wimax support (Intel or 3rd party). Must have battery powered screen size less than or equal to 6". Devices must be less than or equal to a 7.5" diagonal width with thicknesses being less than or equal to 1.02".
The fact that wireless networking support under Centrino Atom can be provided by a 3rd party is a huge (and very welcome) departure from the current Centrino requirements. Future versions of Centrino Atom will tighten up these requirements as well, but what we are seeing is certainly a good starting place for the types of devices that could benefit from the Centrino Atom brand.
The future of mobile compute looks very bright indeed, and now it has a name: Atom.
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Doormat - Monday, March 3, 2008 - link
"The ultra mobile variants based on Silverthorne will also launch around the same time frame but at various clock frequencies of up to 1.8GHz with a 0.6W - 2.5W TDP."I thought the top Silverthorne was supposed to run at 2GHz? Is Intel slipping a bit?
cokbun - Monday, March 3, 2008 - link
atom? thats like ultra lame.. and strange to pronounce ' intellatom ' how about nucleus or mono or hamburger, it sounds better. they have great cpus but can't name em properly. and what's '' 2 duo '' supposed to mean??Griswold - Monday, March 3, 2008 - link
It beats "Nucular", though.(if you didnt get it, watch more simpsons)
ucsdmike - Monday, March 3, 2008 - link
Mota. Its what they were on when they thought of the name.iwodo - Monday, March 3, 2008 - link
We need those Dual Core Version to be inside our NAS.Only then we will have an NAS that is capable to push 60+Mb /s and really usable as a storage device.
stmok - Sunday, March 2, 2008 - link
There is going to be a dual-core version of Diamondville.It will be officially marketed as the Celeron 3xx.
Intel is planning on a Q3 2008 release.
It is for the affordable desktop market.
sheh - Sunday, March 2, 2008 - link
A desktop computer for general use with a <10W (or even <5?) CPU sounds very promising. VIA's CPUs were an option, but too rare and probably more expensive (and less efficient).Add SSD, extra-integrated motherboard, and you have a small, passively cooled, <50W computer (sans monitor).
DigitalFreak - Sunday, March 2, 2008 - link
Good name. Much better than Pentium or Centrino. It even fits in a way.Duwelon - Sunday, March 2, 2008 - link
Yeah Intel rules at marketing thats for sure. Now if AMD would do half as good... do they even advertise on TV?Samus - Sunday, March 2, 2008 - link
I like the name too. Very clever.