What is centrino pro

Intel Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) brings 800 MHz FSB and GMA X3100 graphics

The Intel Centrino Pro platform has been all over the news lately. The biggest changes for Centrino Pro are that it supports an 800 MHz FSB and includes the GMA X3100 graphics, which is supports Intel Clear Video, Vista Aero, HDMI, and include 3D transform and lighting. Other features include dynamic FSB switching to save power, 802.11n WiFi, Turbo Memory, and EFI, a replacement for BIOS.

To be considered "Centrino Pro", a laptop must include:

• Intel Core 2 Duo 800 MHz CPU
• Intel PM965 or GM965 chipset
• Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN
• Intel 82566 Gigabit ethernet built-in

As always, if a laptop has the Core 2 Duo CPU and a 965 chipset, it has all the advantages of the Centrino Pro platform. The latter two options are just Intel's way of trying to sell more of their own networking chips. It wouldn't be branded "Centrino Pro" by Intel, but would be just as good.

Here is a quick rundown of what those features mean:

• 800 MHz FSB - 5-10% system performance improvement.
• Dynamic FSB - reduces power usage system-wide during periods of low CPU usage
• GMA X3100 - Vista Aero support and HDMI output. 3D transform and lighting (T&L) will boost performance in 3D games quite noticeably over the GMA 950. HOWEVER, Intel promised T&L in the GMA X3000, the desktop version, and has yet to deliver drivers that support that feature without terrible artifacts. Presently, the GMA X3000 offers the same 3D performance as the GMA 950.
• 802.11n - Roughly doubles wireless performance over 802.11g. Range is also improved noticeably, on the order of about 20-40% with a compatible wireless access point. The Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN supports 802.11a, g, b, and n.
• NAND flash Turbo Memory - Uses Vista ReadyBoost to offer additional caching for hard drives and speed bootup times. It should also save some power usage as well.
• EFI - Replaces the system BIOS that has been in use for over 25 years. There isn't a lot of change for an end user here. A concern of EFI is that it can create a "DRM BIOS" to lock users out of media content or otherwise fool the OS.

A simple trick to find out which processor has this technology is if it has an odd no in the hundreds place like T7700, T7500, T7300