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Difference Between Intel Atom and Intel Celeron

Intel Atom vs Intel Celeron
 

Between Intel Atom and Intel Celeron, a number of differences can be identified though there performances are comparable. Intel is the world’s leading processor manufacturer and they produce several series of processors. Intel Atom and Intel Celeron are two of them. Intel Atom is a small processor that works on ultra-low voltage. Hence, its power consumption is low and, therefore, are used in portable devices like mobile phones, ultrabooks and tablets. Celeron is a budget processor series where it is the budget edition of Intel’s high-end processors such as i series processors. Celeron’s performance is generally lower than Intel i series processors but, when compared to Atom processors, there wouldn’t be any significant difference. The power consumption of Celeron processors are high as they are targeted to be used in PCs.

What is Intel Atom?

Intel Atom is a microprocessor series produced by Intel and this series of processors was introduced several years ago in 2008. The production of Intel Atom happens even up to the present. Intel Atom processors are ultra-low voltage processors where the power consumption is minimal. Therefore, these processors are widely used in portable devices like tablets, phones, and ultra-books where the battery life is a critically important factor. The code name for the first Atom series was Silverthorne and this was produced under 45 nanometer technology. It was a single core processor and the power consumption was around 2W. Then, Lincroft series came and after that, in Diamondville series, Intel introduced the 64 bit instruction set for the Atom processor. Then, in the next years, a lot of improvement occurred and current Intel Atom processors are quad core processors with one thread per each core. They have a cache memory of around 2 MB. Each core can go up to a maximum frequency about 2 GHz, but this depends on the specific processor model. Maximum memory size supported can be 1 GB, 2 GB, or 4 GB and that depends on the specific model of the processor.

What is Intel Celeron?

Intel Celeron is also a microprocessor series produced by Intel. This series is much older than the Atom series where the introduction happened in 1998. Just as Atom series, the production of Celeron happens even at present. This processor series was targeted for budget computers. The performance of a Celeron processor is significantly low when compared to a high-end Intel processor. For example, consider a present Celeron Processor and a Core i series processor with a similar frequency. The Celeron Processor is also based on the same technology that the i series is produced, but the performance of the Celeron Processor is much less. The main reason is the smaller cache memory in Celeron Processors. Also, in Celeron Processors, advanced features have been disabled, which also cause a significant drop in performance. But, when compared with an Atom processor, there would not be a significant difference in performance. The first Celeron processor that was introduced in 1998 was based on the Intel Pentium II processor. It was done on 250 nm technology and it was a single core processor. It came under the code name Covington. Then the technology developed, and now, there are even quad core Celeron processors. There are many models of Intel Celeron processors at present and, therefore, there is a great range in the specification. Generally, the cache size varies from 512 KB to 2 MB. The clock speed also vastly depends on the model where there are processors starting from around 1 GHz to 2.8 GHz. When the number of cores are considered, there are single core processor, dual cores processor, and also quad core processors.

What is the difference between Intel Atom and Intel Celeron?

• Intel Atom series was introduced in 2008, but Intel Celeron was introduced earlier than that; it was introduced in 1998. The production of both series continues up to the present.

• Intel Atom processors are ultra-low voltage processors where the power consumption is extremely low. Intel Celeron processors work on the normal processor voltage and their power consumption is high.

• Intel Atom processor is targeted to be used in portable devices such as ultrabooks, tablets and phones. Intel Celeron Processors are targeted to be used in budget personal computers.

• The cache memory of current Intel Atom processors is 2 MB. But, in the Celeron series, there are various modes where the cache memory ranges from 512 KB to 2 MB.

• The maximum amount of memory supported by Atom processors is low while this is high on Celeron processors.

• The size of Atom processors is generally smaller than the size of a Celeron processor.

Summary:

Intel Atom vs Intel Celeron

Intel Atom is produced to be used in mobile devices such as phones, tablets, and ultra-books. The power consumption of the Atom processor is really low as it is an ultra-low voltage processor and also the size of the chip is very small. The Celeron series is a budget processor that is based on the high end processors such as core i series processors. Their power consumption is high and are supposed to be used in budget personal computers. Though the performance of the Celeron processor is lower than a high end desktop processor, when compared with Atom processor there wouldn’t be any significant difference.

 

Images Courtesy:

  1. Intel Atom by Köf3 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
  2. Intel Celeron by Appaloosa (CC BY-SA 3.0)