Debut of Intel Centrino Pro

There’s an article at PC Magazine about the new direction Intel is going with their mobile CPUs and chipsets. They are splitting up their consumer and business/professional markets and changing the requirements for the stickers that go on the machines.

Excerpt from the article:

A motherboard chipset, a dual core processor (hence the Duo), and a wireless component. OEMs, or laptop vendors, will need all three of these components in order to get the coveted sticker. The Pro version is basically a superset of the consumer version, where Intel is planning to add one more requirement (on top of the three) in order for OEMs to get a Centrino Pro sticker.

Come launch time, this year’s platform, codenamed “Santa Rosa,” will become the new flavor of Centrino, which will target both your average consumer and business professional. There’s no word on the official branding yet on the consumer side. The Santa Rosa Platform will have a new chipset, new additions to the current processor line, and a new Wi-Fi platform supporting the 802.11n standard.

Full Press Release at Intel.com and quote sheet.