Intel to drop the Pentium brand?

First Netburst goes out the window, and now it may be that the venerable “Pentium” name is headed for retirement, as well. The Inquirer is reporting on a Japanese PC Watch article which claims that the Pentium brand name will not be used for Merom and Conroe when they launch. Instead, Intel will apply the term “Intel Core” to the new architecture, much like Netburst was the name of the Pentium 4 architecture. The “Intel Core” name isn’t likely to be the one that consumers will be most familiar with, however, since platform-centric brands like Centrino will be more heavily emphasized.”

Who knows whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but we may see soon enough if this proves true. Check out the posting over at Ars.