Intel’s Core Ultra 200V series mobile processors, codenamed Lunar Lake, promise significant improvements in speed and efficiency.
When Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon Elite processors earlier this year, the company surprised many with their performance and efficiency.
After ditching Intel’s X86 architecture and transitioning to Arm, Qualcomm’s CPUs were able to achieve better performance on Windows machines and significantly better battery life, which was finally comparable to that of Apple’s MacBooks.
It appeared that many of the improvements were achieved thanks to the new Arm architecture.
However, Intel says that its latest Lunar Lake mobile processors on X86 offer significant improvements in terms of efficiency and performance and outperform its main competitors, Qualcomm and AMD, in many aspects.
“Lunar Lake has significant architecture innovations: cores, graphics, and AI. It is the most power-efficient processor we have ever built,” said Jim Johnson, Intel Senior VP, at an IFA press conference in Berlin on Tuesday.
Fastest built-in GPU
The latest Intel processors feature re-engineered architecture, design, and construction.
They will have two types of cores. Intel says that four performance cores (P-cores), compared to the P-cores of the previous generation, will deliver 10-15% overall performance, performance per watt and per area.
Meanwhile, four efficiency cores (E-cores) will be able to achieve double the AI throughput compared to the previous generation, among other things.
In addition, Intel claims that its new Xe2 graphics microarchitecture delivers a 30% mobile graphics performance uplift.
According to the company, Lunar Lake has the fastest built-in GPU in the industry. During the event, Johnson said that it tested its latest GPU with nearly 50 games, and the processor was 16% faster than AMD and 68% faster than Qualcomm.
Better efficiency and compatibility
The new Intel CPUs will also be capable of handling AI workloads. They’ll have a neural processing unit that can achieve 48 trillion operations per second, which qualifies PCs with Lunar Lake to be called Copilot+.
According to Intel, laptops with Lunar Lake will also offer a decent battery life.
“Lunar Lake” systems shatter the myth that x86 can do low power and long battery life. Lunar Lake is the most efficient x86 processor ever,” Johnson said.
Now, the company promises an average of 20 hours of battery life when handling more significant tasks than “watching video on a dimmed screen.”
A Dell representative backed these Intel efficiency claims and showcased the XPS 13 laptop with Lunar Lake.
According to Dell, the device delivers up to 26 hours of streaming, which is an 8-hour improvement over the previous generation.
Finally, Intel highlighted another benefit of using its Lunar Lake with X86 architecture – its compatibility.
Arm-based laptops still aren’t compatible with many apps and games, and Intel is a clear winner here.
Intel’s new processors will be available on more than a dozen PC manufacturer's laptops, including Acer, ASUS, Dell Technologies, HP, Lenovo, LG, and Samsung.
The companies started preorders for the devices on launch day, with the first laptops reaching customers on September 24th.
Availability Trade-offs
While what Intel says about its latest CPUs looks promising, there are a few things worth knowing before ordering a laptop with Intel’s chips.
With its latest processor, the company ditches the ability to add more RAM. Instead, DRAM will now be directly embedded in the chip's packaging, offering either 16GB or 32GB of RAM as fixed options.
Another thing worth considering is the company’s ongoing troubles with its earlier generation of processors dubbed Raptor Lake, which are crashing due to instability issues.
The company claims that Lunar Lake will not be affected by the same problems. After such a blow with Raptor Lake, you’d like to believe that the multi-billion company has put maximum effort into making sure such problems won’t happen again.
However, the issue, which affects many customers, certainly casts a shadow on the company’s technological capabilities.
It remains to be seen whether Intel can live up to its promises.
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