Intel Officially Launches Core Ultra CPUs for Laptops; All Details Here

Intel unveiled the Meteor Lake architecture a few months ago. However, we did not get any details on the actual processor variants at the time. That has finally changed as Intel has revealed the names of the latest14th Genprocessors that will power your next-gen laptops.

You will see these latest CPUs onupcoming laptops of 2024, from various major OEMs like Asus, Samsung, Lenovo, MSI, and more. We discuss all the new 14th Gen CPUs that are coming, along with their specifications. Then, we will tell you all about Meteor Lake architecture and what exactly is new about it.

Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake: Specifications & CPU Variants

Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs are officially launching on new 2024 laptops. The CPU variants in this new lineup range fromIntel Core Ultra 9(highest end) to the more basicIntel Corechips. Only the Core Ultra H-Series chips will include on-board Intel Arc GPU, with varying amounts of Xe Cores, GPU frequency, and other differences. By the way, both Intel Core Ultra H-Series and U-Series come with aneural processorcalledIntel AI boost.

You can check out the specifications of the entireIntel Core Ultra processor lineupbelow. The core configuration (P-core/E-core/LP E-core) has also been mentioned. All these Core Ultra processors support either DDR5-5600MHz or LPDDR5/x-7464MHz RAM.

The capacity for DDR5 is up to 96GB, but for LPDDR5/x equipped systems, it goes up to 64 GB. It is unclear for now how upgradeability will work.

Intel Core Ultra (H-Series)

An important note from Intel points out thatIntel Arc GPUis only available on systems with 16GB of RAM, withdual channel configuration.If this is not met, or if the system manufacturer pairs the Core Ultra CPU with improper configuration, a bottleneck may occur. Also, new Intel Core Ultra H-Series CPUs areconfigurable up to 64/115W.

This will depend on the cooling capacity and feature set of different laptops. The higher-end laptops (which are also aimed at high performance) will definitely feature better performance on the same chip, thanks to increased power limits. Let’s talk about the U Series now.

Intel Core Ultra (U-Series)

The Intel Core Ultra U-Series chips are also coming to 2024 laptops. These are different from the H-Series but also advantageous in their own way. The thinnest, lightest laptops will come with U-Series Intel Core Ultra processors.

The base & turbo power limits given for U-Series Core Ultra aredramatically loweras compared to the H-Series counterparts. Moreover, as we said, only the H-Series gets the Arc graphics card. The U-Series gets the basic Intel Graphics, with lower Xe cores & GPU frequencies.

The Core Ultra 9 185H, Core Ultra 7 164U, and Core Ultra 5 134U will release later, with Q1 2024 mentioned by Intel as the expected availability.

So, we don’t get a Core i9 successor right away. Other chips that are listed above will be released soon on various new laptops. According to Intel, 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs will beavailable beginning today (December 14th). They have listed several retailers and OEM partners. In the coming days, check with your local retailers or sites like Amazon to see if Meteor Lake has launched in your region!

Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake Performance Benchmarks

Speaking of performance, Intel says the multi-threaded CPU performance on new Core Ultra chips is8% better. This is when comparing theCore Ultra 7 165Hvs 13th GenCore i7 -1370Pin SPECrate 2017. The single-threaded CPU performance has also increased, being 12% faster than the AMD counterpart (Ryzen 7 7840U). Interestingly, it looks like this particular CPU (165H) is actually slightly slower than i7-1370P in terms of purely single-threaded performance.

Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake features up to2X faster graphics performancethan the previous 13th Gen CPUs. Intel claims that content creation is41% fasterin the Puget Bench test forAdobe Premiere Pro.

Below, you can check out the performance of Intel 14th Gen invarious tasks(content creation, artificial intelligence workloads, and gaming) that take advantage of the entire chip, including the Meteor Lakeintegrated Arc GPU, new NPU chip for AI acceleration, and the compute tile P-Cores & E-cores.Image Courtesy: IntelImage Courtesy: IntelImage Courtesy: Intel

Intel bringsmajor efficiency improvementsin the latest architecture. This is why, with the introduction of Meteor Lake, Intel isdropping the ‘i’from the processor naming scheme. WithIntel’s rebranding, new processors will be calledIntel Core Ultrafor the higher-end ones or simplyIntel Corefor base variants.

According to the company, Intel Meteor Lake (Core Ultra 7 165H) consumes up to79% lower powercompared to AMD Zen 4 (Ryzen 7 7840U) at28W. The AMD processor is built on TSMC’s 4nm manufacturing process, so it looks like 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs withIntel 4 manufacturing processwill feature even better power efficiency!

What’s New in Intel 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPUs?

With Intel’s 14th Gen, the company finally brings forward itsIntel 4 process. The latest architecture features EUV lithography, 20% increased power efficiency, and delivers Intel’s new vision of a 3D Performance Hybrid Architecture. A lot has been promised with Intel’s latest 14th Gen Meteor Lake architecture.

AI is a major focusfor new Intel processors. On-board Meteor Lake architecture, there liesa new NPU chipthat can even be seen in the Task Manager. This is essentially a mini powerhousepurpose-built for AI taskson your Windows PC. You can even performoffline AI processingwith it! Overall, the entire chip is purpose-built for AI. Intel is touting Meteor Lake as having ‘three AI engines’.

On the software side, thescheduling(allocation of CPU cores to the ongoing tasks) has been improved significantly.Intel Thread Directorfeeds the operating system with constant feedback, resulting in optimized decision-making when it comes to scheduling. Then, on the hardware side, Intel has introduced a highly dynamic architecture and has introduceda new type of corecalledLow Power Island(LP E-cores).

ThisLP E-corelies in theSoC tileof Intel 14th Gen, separate from thecompute tile,which contains the main P-Cores & E-Cores. This new LP E-core will handle background tasks and can even handle tasks like video playback whilebasically sipping power. Intel 14th Gen laptops with Meteor Architecture will perform quite efficiently thanks to the addition of this new core type.

The correct allocation of cores, respective to the task at hand, is all managed by the CPU & OS automatically. According to Intel, duringNetflix video playback, the 14th Gen Core Ultra 7 165H consumes 1150mW (1.15W). Comparing this to the previous 13th Gen (i7-1370P), that CPU consumes 1540mW (1.54W) in the same task.

Talking about the new compute tile, it features new Redwood Cove (P–cores) and Crestmont (E-cores). The new P-Cores receive dramatic improvements in terms of performance-per-watt. The new E-Cores now featureVNNI acceleration.

With this, the E-Cores boost AI workloads by accelerating the VNNI (Vector Neural Network Instruction) instruction set, which is used for machine learning & artificial intelligence inference.

On the connectivity side of things, Intel is dramatically upgrading things here, too. Intel 14th, Gen Meteor Lake, bringsWiFi 7 support. 5 Gig networking is now a thing, thanks to this! By the way, AI is truly everywhere on new processors because Intel will includeconnection optimization softwarepowered by AI.

Plus,Intel Bluetooth 5.4is also coming to these latest processors. The newest Bluetooth features include LE audio (low power & high-quality sound), multi-stream features, and accessibility enhancements for PC users with hearing impairments.Thunderbolt 4is also present, the same as the last gen processors. Maybe with 15th Gen, we’ll get to seeThunderbolt 5!

It has been a long time since Intel changed the core manufacturing process of its processors. The previous CPU architectures, known as Alder Lake (12th Gen) & Raptor Lake (13th Gen), were based on theIntel 7process.

Intel 7 by itself was based on10nm– which was used in previous processors. Intel did improve upon the CPU efficiency with every generation, but in some cases, the efficiency gains were minimal at best. Now, with Meteor Lake and Intel 4 process, Intel CPUs can be considered to finally be on-par oreven betterthan other chips built on 4nm/5nm manufacturing process.

So, what are your thoughts on Intel’s new 14th Gen processors with Meteor Lake architecture? Are you excited for the upcoming 2024 laptops to come with these latest processors? Let us know in the comments below!

Satyam Kumar

Highly passionate about technology. Major expertise in PC hardware, the VR industry, esports-centric gear, and other gadgets. In my spare time, I’m usually researching exciting hardware breakthroughs or playing competitive games.

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