Intel Diamondville shuns dual-core
Intel's upcoming low-cost Diamondville notebook processor will break from Intel's multicore strategy of the last few years and be primarily a single-core processor.
Small notebooks like the Eee PC will use Diamondville.
(Credit: Asus)In this respect Diamondville is not that different from Celeron, a long-standing design (introduced in 1998) that has been exclusively single-core until very recently. The reason for the single-core strategy is simple: With Diamondville, Intel has a "fanatical focus" on low power and low cost, according to Dean McCarron, founder and principal of Mercury Research. A single core means fewer transistors and lower power consumption.
Diamondville is not Celeron, however. "It's a clean sheet of paper design," McCarron said. It is a tiny 45-nanometer processor that employs a simpler design (called an "in-order pipeline") than standard Intel processors, as spelled out in an ISSCC presentation (PDF) earlier this month. Diamondville also has lower-cost packaging than the Silverthorne processor, which Diamondville is derived from.
Because of this extreme emphasis on cost, Diamondville will appear in ultra-low-cost notebooks and to a lesser extent--at least initially--in desktops. Intel refers to the low-cost notebook design as "netbook" and estimates the pricing for these devices will go as low as $250. The initial thrust by PC suppliers such as Hewlett-Packard and Dell is expected to be in emerging markets. Performance is expected to be commensurate with the Pentium-M processor (a single-core chip first released in 2004).
There will be one exception to the single-core designs: a desktop version of Diamondville will be dual-core, according to a source close to Intel. This is backed up by a recent report in Taipei-based DigiTimes that refers to a Diamondville platform as "Shelton'08." That platform will come with two Diamondville processor models: a dual-core CPU, whose specifics are currently unknown, and the 230, a single-core CPU running at 1.6GHz with a 533MHz front-side bus and 512KB cache. The Shelton'08 for notebooks will include a single-core Diamondville, the N270.
On another front, Intel is expected to rebrand the Menlow platform in the very near future, according to sources familiar with Intel's strategy. The Menlow platform is comprised of the "Silverthorne" processor and the "Poulsbo" chipset from which Diamondville is derived, as mentioned above. Centrino is a possible candidate for a part of the brand name. This is a name that carries significant brand equity and may also be applied to the upcoming Montevina platform as "Centrino 2," according to reports earlier this month.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
Celeron originally was a low-cost version of the Pentium II, but the name was carried throughout the entire subsequent line of CPU's, and is still used today.
The Pentium-M is a version of the Pentium III designed to take advantage of some platformy stuff used by the Pentium 4, but use way less power (the Pentium 4 has been called "the Worlds Most Efficient Space Heater", due to the obscene amounts of heat it gives off).
Then comes the Centrino platform. The name Centrino means that it has built in WiFi; and that the CPU, chipset (the thing that controls the hard-drives, cd-rom drives, and RAM; in addition to any other hardware you would stick into the computer), WiFi/other networking controllers, and video-card are all made by Intel. This name only refers to laptops
Diamondville is a similiar type of thing, but is a bit more specific on the exact things included. It refers to a specific line of CPU's, and a specific chipset. Furthermore, it encompasses desktops and laptops.
Shelton '08 is synonymous with Diamondville, and 230/N270 are individual CPU's used by this class of computers.
Menlow is, again, the same kind of thing as Centrino, only this time it deals with really low-voltage, low-power components. It is intended for use with Palm-pilot type devices: small computers that aren't quite as small as smart-phones.
Silverthorne is the codename for the CPU's used in Menlow, and Paulsbo is the chipset.
Last, but not least, is the Centrino 2, which is the successor to Centrino. I guess the purpose of it is just to differentiate branded products from the products that have been around since 2002. Basically, to make sure you don't confuse an older piece of junk with a brand-new computer.
If you have more questions, I could whip up a diagram for you.