Tuesday, March 9th 2021
Intel Prepares 19 Alder Lake Processors for Laptops Ranging from 5-55 Watts
As we are getting closer to the launch of Intel's next-generation Alder Lake processors, more information is getting leaked. Today, thanks to the leaked presentation slide, we have some more details regarding Intel's Alder Lake offerings in the laptop sector. As a reminder, Alder Lake uses a hybrid approach to core configuration with the similar mindset Arm's big.LITTLE works. There are a few smaller cores for processing smaller tasks that don't need much power and, of course, there are a few big cores that are used for heavyweight processing as some advanced applications require. The small cores are going to be based on the Gracemont microarchitecture, while the big one will use the Golden Cove design.
Thanks to @9550pro on Twitter, we have a slide that showcases 19 different Alder Lake configurations for the laptop segment. At the very bottom, there are configurations with a TDP of just five Watts. That is achieved by having just one big, four smaller cores, 48 EU Gen 12 GPU and that is meant for the tablet segment. Going up, we have different ranges depending on the application device, and the highest end is a chip with 55 Watts of power. That model has eight small and eight big cores, combined with 32 EUs of Gen 12 graphics. All models include integrated graphics. The variations of big and small cores have allowed Intel to have as many as 19 different SKUs, that cover every segment needed, by simply balancing the core count. You can check out the rest of the models below for yourself.
Source:
@9550pro (Twitter)
Thanks to @9550pro on Twitter, we have a slide that showcases 19 different Alder Lake configurations for the laptop segment. At the very bottom, there are configurations with a TDP of just five Watts. That is achieved by having just one big, four smaller cores, 48 EU Gen 12 GPU and that is meant for the tablet segment. Going up, we have different ranges depending on the application device, and the highest end is a chip with 55 Watts of power. That model has eight small and eight big cores, combined with 32 EUs of Gen 12 graphics. All models include integrated graphics. The variations of big and small cores have allowed Intel to have as many as 19 different SKUs, that cover every segment needed, by simply balancing the core count. You can check out the rest of the models below for yourself.
22 Comments on Intel Prepares 19 Alder Lake Processors for Laptops Ranging from 5-55 Watts
According to the image, Intel has 11(13). Not sure what exactly the dashed line SKUs are, "maybe" I suppose.
M-package SKUs are really for a different segment.
ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/29902/ivy-bridge.html#@Mobile
You won't find 5/9/15 W CPU's in regular sized gaming laptops, and no 45/55 W in ultrabooks. Also, THREE different packages.
I'm surprised that the 15 W variants only have 2C/8c (only 2 big cores), while AMD have had 8 (big) for a year now.
This makes me even more curious about how Alder lake will perform, as I don't think Intel chose that configuration by accident. :D
in fact having a huge SKU mean expect a wide array of form factor
interesting how this is play out
Big cores, little cores, sounds funny.
yeah it looks that way
www.arm.com/why-arm/technologies/big-little
19 is far from a record..
Comet Lake & Ice Lake: 19 + 12 mobile SKU's
Kaby Lake: 29 mobile SKU's
Ivy Bridge: 41 mobile SKU's
IIRC, the confusion it creates actually lowers sales, to some degree.
Besides, the consumers will never see all these CPU's lined up like this in one pic when buying a laptop.
Also, don't forget that Alder Lake is replacing THREE code names from 2020: Lakefield, Tiger Lake, and Comet Lake. The fact that they will be all in one now is a bit of an indication that Alder Lake is quite efficient (NOT PROOF, I know).
Every time Intel needs a separate CPU for Laptops you know it can only get better. I'm thinking of when P4/PD was on desktop, while PM/CD was on mobile.
Half a year later, everything was C2D.