Intel Corp. unveiled 10 Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Extreme processors for consumer and business desktop and laptop PCs and workstations, reshaping how computers perform, look and consume power.

"The Core 2 Duo processors are simply the best processors in the world," said Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel. "Not since Intel introduced the Pentium processor has the industry seen the heart of the computer reinvented like this. The Core 2 Duo desktop processor is an energy-efficient marvel, packing 291 million transistors yet consuming 40 percent lower power, while delivering the performance needed for the applications of today and tomorrow."

The processor family already has very broad support with more than 550 customer system designs underway -- the most in Intel's history. Ultimately, tens of thousands of businesses will sell computers or components based on these processors.

The Intel Core 2 Duo processors are built in several advanced, high-volume output manufacturing facilities using Intel's 65-nanometer silicon process technology. The desktop PC version of the processors also provide up to a 40 percent increase in performance and are more than 40 percent more energy efficient versus Intel's previous best processor.

The Intel Core 2 Duo processor family consists of five desktop PC processors tailored for business, home and enthusiast users, such as high-end gamers, and five mobile PC processors designed to fit the needs of a mobile lifestyle. Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based workstations will also deliver performance for such areas as design, content creation and technical computing.

The processor family is based on the Intel Core microarchitecture, designed to provide powerful yet energy-efficient performance. With the power of dual cores, or computing engines, the processors can manage numerous tasks faster. They also can operate more smoothly when multiple applications are running, such as writing e-mails while downloading music or videos and conducting a virus scan. These dual-core chips also improve tasks, such as viewing and playing high-definition video, protecting the PC and its assets during e-commerce transactions, and enabling improved battery life for sleeker, lighter notebooks.

Consumers and businesses will have the option to purchase Intel Core 2 Duo processors as part of Intel's premier market-focused platforms, which are made up of Intel hardware and software technologies tailored to specific computing needs, including Intel vPro technology for businesses, Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology for laptops and Intel Viiv technology for the home.

Many of the products will also offer a selection of Intel-designed and integrated technologies such as Intel Virtualization Technology and Intel Active Management Technology that make the PC more secure and manageable. Also, support for 64-bit computing now expands to notebook PCs. The new processors can be paired with the Intel 975X, 965, and Mobile Intel 945 Express chipset family. The Intel 965 Express chipset includes the latest integrated graphics and Intel Clear Video Technology. All these chipsets are Microsoft Windows Vista Premium Ready.

Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Extreme processors include many innovations, including:

• Intel Wide Dynamic Execution -- Improves performance and efficiency as each core can complete up to four full instructions simultaneously using an efficient 14-stage pipeline.

• Intel Smart Memory Access -- Improves system performance by hiding memory latency, thus optimizing the use of available computer data bandwidth to provide data to the processor when and where it is needed.

• Intel Advanced Smart Cache -- Includes a shared L2 cache or memory reservoir to reduce power by minimizing memory "traffic" yet increases performance by allowing one core to utilize the entire cache when the other core is idle. Only Intel provides this capability in all segments.

• Intel Advanced Digital Media Boost -- Effectively doubles the execution speed for instructions used widely in multimedia and graphics applications.

• Intel 64 Technology -- This enhancement to Intel's 32-bit architecture supports 64-bit computing, including enabling the processor to access larger amounts of memory.