Blauboad, Re: However, would you agree that that the value proposition to the OEMs and customers would have been better had Intel marketed its components individually rather than under the all-or-nothing Centrino rubric?
Let me try to put this in a different perspective. When you see Centrino, you see Intel limiting someone's choices. This could be in terms of the end-user or the OEM, if I understand you correctly.
Now, choice is certainly a wonderful thing, and of course, it's been the cornerstone of success for the personal computer. I certainly like choice, too, but what I also expect in a product is a solid piece of equipment that runs my workloads without complaint while offering something greater than what I had.
Up until recently, performance has been the leading vector for customer satisfaction. People want their computers capable of running all their apps - now, and at least through the near future. These days, however, performance is not the only selling feature. People want lighter, smaller form factors, innovative designs, plenty of interconnects, long battery life, and plenty of others.
What you might not realize is that Centrino is much more than a drive towards selling three pieces of silicon in the same package. From what I've heard, Intel sets pretty strict guidelines for how their OEM/ODM partners design their systems, and from what I see, this is pretty evident in the end product.
My Centrino system is rock solid (if you don't mind me using the popular techie cliche). The drivers are very robust. I never encounter problems, the ACPI functionality works flawlessly, and all the pieces really fit well together. By that I mean that wireless detects access points fairly quickly, changes seamlessly between wired and wireless modes, and makes all the complexity invisible to the end user.
Don't take this lightly, either. I've dealt with plenty of non-Centrino laptops that do not have the same level of quality. It makes a heck of a difference to the end user when they can get their product made from parts that are all qualified to operate flawlessly with one another, even if that combination is not the most ideal conceivable.
That's why I think Centrino has a value to it. On the surface, it might just be three pieces of silicon from Intel, not all of which are the best value to the end user by themselves; in practice, however, a lot more work goes into it. Software, validation, support, and good engineering: these are what it takes to make a superior end product, and that's what Centrino is all about.
By the way, the integrated graphics are not a requirement for the Centrino name. The Odem chipset, or 855P, has an external AGP port for adding nVidia or ATI graphics accelerators, and the Centrino name brand still applies.
