In a recent blog post by Intel's Bill Calder, details emerged on how Intel will be treating its product names to make it simple for consumers to choose their client products. The strategy lays to rest a long-standing speculation that markers such as "i7", "i5", and "i3" remain confined to a particular kind (read: core design) of the client processor lineup, and spells out the purpose of these markers, and how they make it easy to figure out which Intel processor to buy.

To begin with, there are three markers it calls "modifiers": i3, i5, and i7, to denote entry-level, mid-level, and high-level respectively. These serve merely as modifiers to the brand "Intel Core". As such, "Intel Core i7" isn't a brand in itself, but a higher class of Intel Core series processors, than Core i5 and Core i3. The actual silicon, socket, or architecture used remains abstract to the marker. For example, some higher variants of the "Lynnfield" quad-core processor will use the name Core i7, while the bulk of its mainstream lineup remains in Core i5. The "Clarksfield" mobile quad-core chip makes it to the Core i7 series, as it denotes the highest performance available for notebooks. In all, we can expect Intel to use its modifiers solely to explain what features each processor carries, to replace the existing strategy of giving model numbers to spread products across value, mainstream, performance, and extreme performance segments.Says Bill Calder:
"We are focusing our strategy around a primary 'hero' client brand which is Intel Core. Today the Intel Core brand has a mind boggling array of derivatives (such as Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, etc). Over time those will go away and in its place will be a simplified family of Core processors spanning multiple levels: Intel Core i3 processor, Intel Core i5 processor, and Intel Core i7 processors. Core i3 and Core i5 are new modifiers and join the previously announced Intel Core i7 to round out the family structure. It is important to note that these are not brands but modifiers to the Intel Core brand that signal different features and benefits. For example, upcoming processors such as Lynnfield (desktop) will carry the Intel Core brand, but will be available as either Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 depending upon the feature set and capability. Clarksfield (mobile) will have the Intel Core i7 name."