There are some rumors that Intel could be phasing out the Celeron brand for low-end processors.
The information comes courtesy of TweakTown, which says that Intel may be replacing Celerons with Pentiums. So far, there is not much substance to this rumor as it is based on speculation surrounding the release of the Pentium 350 as a low-end part for servers.
In the past, Intel has occasionally played with the idea to get rid of some old brand names that carried baggage with somewhat negative connotations. For example, we had credible information back in the beginning of 2006 that Intel was pretty much set to drop the Pentium brand. As the first Core 2 Duo processors (Conroe core) were prepared to replace the 65 nm Pentium 4 processors, which had assumed a reputation of being inferior to AMD's Athlon X2 series while emitting Bunsen burner heat. However, Intel kept the Pentium brand on life support and eventually established it as the identifier mid-range CPUs between Core and Celeron CPUs.
Intel currently offers four desktop Celerons with tray prices from $37 to $52 as well as nine mobile Celerons with prices from $70 to $134. Intel could be dropping the Celeron brand at any given time and, given the brands recognition, few may care if Pentiums took their place.
adieu Celeron!
Also, since celerons went dual-core, I think they run very well for every day computing.
adieu Celeron!
That still isn't going to get rid of what they are internally, though- processors which couldn't pass muster at the lowest of frequencies.
But no matter what they're called, Joe Average Consumer will still buy them, and those who read this will likely continue to steer clear of them in favor of more stable AMD processors.
Well they should get rid of something. Intel has way too many brands out right now... Atom, Celeron, Pentium, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7. I say get rid of the Atom and Pentium because the Atom is too weak for a netbook CPU and Intel could castrate one of their ULV Sandy Bridge parts and sell it for as cheap as the Atom (and even with that, they will still perform better), and because the Pentium doesn't really target a specific market. Both brands are fluff.
The new sandy bridge celerons have integrated graphics and performance that will blow an Atom away. Example: Current fastest Atom vs. newest, cheapest Celeron g530:
Passmark CPU Rank (lower better)
Intel Atom D525 @ 1.80GHz 710 814
Intel Celeron G530 @ 2.40GHz 2321 336
For comparison, a core duo I bought a few years back for over $200:
Intel Core2 Duo E8500 @ 3.16GHz 2421 324
I bought the SB Celeron for a HTPC and it is an exceptional value for $40, and can use very little power depending upon application. The low price SB Celeron is able to keep up with this Core2 Duo, uses a fraction of the power, plus has decent integrated graphics for watching videos.
Long Live the Celeron!
There is a big difference between the Celeron and the Atom procs though, they are very different products. Celeron/Pentium are just striped down i3's, Atom is a whole different architecture not based upon the Sandy Bridge or Core architecture.
Just wait till the day "Core" goes out and we still have Celeron and Pentium!