Intel is launching a new range of laptop processors under the collective name Core Ultra. The chips are the first to be baked using the Intel 4 process and are said to be more efficient than their predecessors. However, Intel places particular emphasis on the AI ​​capabilities of the CPUs.

Intel is launching Meteor Lake and make no mistake: this laptop processor series does not contain any new Core i processors. The new CPUs are based on a new node and have hype-proof AI functionality that deserves a new name. So don’t say core anymore Ibut core Ultra. The Ultra means the marketing department has made a name for itself, but there’s not much else. Where we talked about Core earlier i7 And i5 talked, we have to core now Ultra7 And Ultra 5 say.

The advantage of the name change is that Intel can resume counting its names. Today the manufacturer is not presenting the fourteenth generation of the Core i, but the first generation of the Core Ultra. The new line-up consists of a total of eleven chips, divided into Core Ultra 5, 7 and 9. Intel is introducing five “H” chips with slightly higher TDP (28 watts and more) for laptops where computing power is the priority . and six “U” chips for thin Ultrabooks.

Intel introduces the Core Ultra H processors below. Intel won’t make the final CPU (the Core Ultra 9 185H) available until the first quarter of next year.

Ultra: Sounds exciting, right?

Intel would have been better off introducing the new Ultra brand name two generations ago with Alder Lake, because by and large these new Meteor Lake processors are the direct successors to last year’s Alder Lake and Raptor Lake. All new processors have a mixed configuration with performance cores (P) and efficiency cores (E). The P cores are based on the new Redwood Cove architecture and, as always, support multithreading, the E cores are based on the Crestmont architecture and can only process one thread at a time.

Crestmont offers the biggest improvement with more instructions per cycle and better branch prediction. Additionally, Intel reserves two E-cores in each chip that are optimized for modest background workloads.

While Redwood Cove is designed for performance, its greatest innovation is greater efficiency. The fact that the chips offer more horsepower per watt is largely due to the Intel 4-Bake process. Intel 4 used to be called 7 nm and technically corresponds more or less to TSMC 5 nm. Intel is therefore making the leap to smaller and more efficient transistors and is finally catching up with AMD’s Ryzen series.

Better than AMD

The manufacturer can finally boast exciting benchmarks again: According to Intel itself, its Intel Core Ultra 7 165H (16 cores, 22 threads, 5 GHz max, 28 watt TDP) performs around eleven percent better than the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U with eight computing cores and the same TDP. AMD has now released a new generation of chips, but it is not that different from its predecessors, so we suspect that the comparison will hold up to some extent. Compared to Intel’s own Core i7-1370P, multithread performance increases by eight percent.

The new processors also receive an upgrade on the graphics side. The Xe graphics that Intel integrates into the Core Ultra H processors are said to be up to twice as fast as those in their predecessors. The chips have seven or eight Xe cores on board, which is enough to receive the Intel Arc label after the manufacturer’s discrete GPUs. Intel continues to claim that its graphics performance is equivalent to, and in some cases slightly better than, an equivalent Ryzen 7000 series chip. Since the difference is small, we are curious to see whether this comparison also holds up against the Ryzen 8000. Intel’s “U” chips also rely on less powerful “Intel Graphics” with four Xe cores each.

AI hype

Intel, like AMD, believes it is necessary to tell an AI marketing story. These chips are AI chips that power AI PCs. These are empty words with which Intel primarily wants to draw attention to its built-in NPU. Like AMD, Intel is building an AI accelerator into its CPU that is intended to accelerate AI-related (inference) workloads. And just like AMD, Intel is solving a non-existent problem.

Admittedly, where AMD has already been able to present 100 accelerable features, Intel has 300 from more partners. This affects application-specific features, such as advanced operations in Adobe Photoshop. Such workloads are processed more efficiently by the NPU, and that’s a good thing.

Furthermore, we have no doubt that the number of relevant features that benefit from the NPU will only increase. With a little good will, we can describe these Core Ultra chips as very future-proof. In practice, the built-in AI capabilities are currently intended for the general public. Great numbers about this or that workload that runs extremely well on the AI ​​processor don’t mean much. Here Intel also compares again with the Ryzen 7 7840U, which, unlike the newer AMD chips, does not yet have an NPU on board.

Fascinating chips

The new Intel Core Ultra processors look interesting. A new baking process and architectural improvements make these chips very relevant for new office laptops. The efficiency gains from the Intel 4 process should theoretically have a noticeably positive effect on the battery life of new laptops. The CPUs at least seem to be worthy challengers for AMD’s Ryzen Mobile series, which doesn’t have much new on board.

In our opinion, both parties’ focus on AI is as conspicuous as it is premature and irrelevant to the general public. The NPU doesn’t do any harm, the chiplet can only help. Finally, we note once again that Intel chose a strange time to rename Core i to Core Ultra: two years ago, the manufacturer made the biggest architectural leap in its Core history by replacing the P and E cores. Then the name remained unchanged. Today we see an evolution of this choice, but suddenly we have to call the chips Core Ultra.

If Intel’s marketing department is happy with such a cool name, then we’re happy too. It seems that Core Ultra is able to meet the main expectations, and that is the most important thing. We think the fact that the count has been reset is a nice bonus: away with the Core i7 13850HX, hurrah for the much easier to read Core Ultra 165H.