What is a Pentium processor, anyway?
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 a
