Intel"s latest desktop processor release schedule includes a new category: small form-factor machines. Some industry analysts have been banging on about how these slimline desktops will soon come to dominate corporate PC purchasing, and it appears Intel is beginning to take note.
It all sounds a bit too much like previous fads for ergonomically designed computers and, later, thin-client systems to us, but clearly there must be something to it or Intel wouldn"t be sniffing around the (potential) market.
Come to think of it, a move by Intel to satisfy the demands of such a business ties in nicely with its keenness to drive the adoption of legacy-free PC designs.
Interestingly, Intel doesn"t see the market as a corporate-only affair, since it has mapped out a release programme for small form-factor PC-oriented Celeron processors too. Both the Value (Celeron) and Mainstream (Pentium 4) segments lag a step or so behind their equivalents in Intel"s main desktop roadmap.
That said, the roadmap includes a 2.3GHz Pentium 4, which isn"t listed on the desktop roadmap. The chips will use the "-P" suffix to indicate their aimed at the small form-factor market, eg. Pentium 4-P.