What is Centrino?

Centrino is mainly a branding effort by Intel, the full name being "Intel Centrino Mobile Technology". It is not a specific component of a laptop such as the screen or processor, but a group of components.

Laptop manufacturers can't use the term "Centrino" unless they include the required components which are:

Intel Pentium M Processor

In the past most manufacturers used desktop CPU's with optimized power and thermal properties to function effectively in laptops. The Pentium M was designed from the beginning to be a mobile processor, allowing it to have great power saving ability without sacrificing performance.

Intel 915 Express and 855 Chipsets

Not only designed to take advantage of all the great power saving features of the Pentium M, the chipsets themselves are also highly optimized to save power.

A laptop will come with one or the other(915 or 855), the main difference is the 915 Express supports newer technologies such as PCI Express, DDR2, Dual Channel Memory, Serial ATA, Intel High Definition Audio, and 533 Mhz front side bus.

The three variations of the 915 Express chipset are:

• 915GM with integrated graphics and dual channel memory support
• 915GMS like the previous but with single channel memory
• 915PM features 16x PCI Express for third party graphics such as ATI or Nvidia

The three variations of the 855 available are:

• 855PM features a 4x AGP interface for third party graphics
• 855GM includes integated graphics capability
• 855GME which is the same as the previous but supports faster memory

Intel PRO/Wireless 2100, 2200, or 2915ABG Networking Card

A WiFi network card with power saving design in the form of five selectable power states that let you choose between battery life and performance.

802.11g has become more popular than 802.11a for high speed wireless networking which makes it easier to find supporting hardware for.

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