Intel has struggled to vie with modern processors from AMD and Apple, and the company’s recent 14th gen desktop Core processors weren’t significant upgrades. Now, the big day has arrived: the 14th gen laptop chips are here, built on a new process with important improvements.
Intel has revealed the first Intel Core Ultra processors, which are in the 14th generation Core processor family for laptops (also known as “Meteor Lake”). They are the first chips using the Intel 4 fabrication process, intended to deliver faster performance and much higher efficiency than previous mobile processors. Confusingly, the 14th gen desktop processors released earlier this year have a completely different process (Intel 7), and are just minor revisions from the 13th gen desktop chips. The “i” in the product names are also gone, as Intel previously confirmed, but these have “Ultra” in the name so we’re not really saving any time here.
The new Core Ultra processors use a hybrid architecture, with three different types of cores on the same procoessor. There are the same Efficiency cores (E-cores, for low-power tasks) and Performance cores (P-cores, for demanding workloads) as earlier Intel processors, with tasks moved between them as needed to balance performance and battery life, but there are also new “Low-power Efficient-cores.” The new category is intended for low-level background tasks and multi-threaded workloads.
There are four new processors in the H Series, which are primarily aimed at workstation and gaming laptops: the Intel Core Ultra 7 165H, the Core Ultra 7 155H, the Core Ultra 5 135H, and the Core Ultra 5 125H. The first two chips have 16 cores (6+8+2) and 22 threads, while the others have 14 cores (4+8+2) and 18 threads. All of them have integrated Intel Arc graphics, an “Intel AI Boost” neural processor, a 64W TDP with a maximum turbo of 115W, and maintain for up to 96GB of RAM (or 64GB when using LP5 RAM). The max turbo frequence ranges from 5 GHz on the Ultra 7 165H to 4.5 GHz on the Ultra 5 125H.
There are also four U-series processors, which are more intended for thin-and-light laptops: the Intel Core Ultra 7 165U, Core Ultra 7 155U, Core Ultra 5 135U, and Core Ultra 5 125U. All of them have the same number of 12 cores (2+8+2) and 14 threads, but the max frequency ranges from 4.9 GHz on the Ultra 7 165U to 4.3 GHz on the Ultra 5 125U. The integrated GPU is also less impressive—Intel is only branding it as “Intel Graphics” instead of the Arc graphics on the H series chips—and the base power is a much lower 15W.
Intel’s new Ultra processors maintain most of the newer technologies you would expect, such as Wi-Fi 6E and the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard, Displayport 2.1 over USB Type-C, HDMI 2.1, and up to four Thunderbolt 4 connections. Since it’s 2023 and everything has to be about AI, the chips also have integrated AI engines for “low-power AI acceleration and CPU/GPU off-load.” It will likely be used for features appreciate microphone noise cancellation, video camera effects (appreciate the Studio Effects available in Windows 11), and other similar local processing.
The new chips look impressive on paper, but we’ll have to foresee for independent testing to see how they stack up with Apple Silicon and AMD’s latest mobile Ryzen chips. Apple still has the advantage of a more efficient ARM platform for its chipsets, while Intel is attempting to modernize x86_64 with a hybrid architecture. There’s also more competition on the way: Nvidia is reportedly working on its own ARM-based processors.
Source: Intel
