In the past few years, recent
changes to the CPU industry and
Intel's Pentium product line have created a lot of confusion for consumers
who do not actively follow developments in the computer industry. When
Intel chose to market its 586 line as a Pentium so as to copyright the
processor name, things started to go astray, but we wouldn't realize it
until a couple years later. The name 'Pentium,' 'pent' meaning 5, designated
it as a fifth generation processor, basically the same as the name 486 meant
it was a fourth generation processor. This was an understandable move,
and Intel launched a huge advertising campaign almost gleefully to promote
the name Pentium as being an Intel product. By changing the standard CPU
designations, Intel's plan has resulted in confused consumers who don't
understand the CPU market anymore.
For example, John and Jane Doe want to buy a
new computer to keep the family
budget and pay the bills on, help Bobby with school and 'surf the net.'
They start looking around, and before long are confused by the myriad of
terms. "It's obvious that a Pentium Pro is better than a Pentium, but is
a 6x86 better than a Pentium Pro?" "What about the K5?" "An M2? What's
that? And what is this MMX I've heard about?" Before long they resort to grabbing the first thing they see with
an "Intel Inside" logo. They probably just bought a 486.
Most people associate the term
Intel with Pentium, thinking that if
a case has an "Intel Inside" sticker, it has a Pentium processor. They also
don't understand about CPU speeds and want to buy a Pentium because they
saw a neat commercial on TV, and that is the extent of their knowledge.
Don't blame them for their ignorance, blame Intel. Intel has forced
buzzwords onto consumers who are oblivious to the dynamics of the computer
industry. A couple weeks ago I was installing an old
386 board into an extra desktop case that I had. A (non-geek) friend walked
by the room and saw what I was doing. He was honestly excited to see inside
a computer, and seemed interested and asked what I was doing. I told him
"I'm installing this old 386 board into this extra case I had." He said,
"Oh. I see. What is it...a Pentium?"
Although Intel started the
trouble with the Pentium name, Cyrix
continued it with the 6x86. Although it sounds like a 686 class processor,
it really is only 586 class. Now things are more confusing than ever with
Intel's new product, the Pentium II (Klamath). It does not make it clear in the name that it
is a generation ahead of the Pentium Pro, and if the trend continues,
we'll be
really far off track. Intel cursed themselves by making the term 'Pentium'
synonomous with 'Intel'. Because of their valuable name recognition, they
decided to not abandon the Pentium name for the Klamath, although they
could
have helped get back on track by introducing a new term to designate the
Klamath as a sixth generation CPU. The trend they started has thrown out
the old industry standards altogether. Cyrix and IBM's new chip, code
named the M2 is officially named the 6x86 MX. That makes their product
line the 6x86, the 6x86 L, and the 6x86 MX. Hello, little Intel.
Out of the big 3, I have to give kudos to AMD for having the most understandable CPU designation. The K5 is a 586 class processor, and the K6 is a 686 class processor. They are keeping things simple for the consumer by using the K designation and marketing each chip at its P-rating, rather than having 2 different numbers on the chip, one for actual speed and one for performance. Hopefully things will clear up in a few years, but right now it sure doesn't look like it. Maybe we should make AMD the new standard since, at least for the time being, their product line is the least confusing.
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Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II are trademarks of Intel Corp. K5 and K6 are trademarks of AMD. This page is © Seth Waddell, 1997. Life is © God, B.C.