The Intel Core i7-4550U is a mobile processor with 2 cores, launched in June 2013. It is part of the Core i7 lineup, using the Haswell architecture with BGA 1168. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 4 threads. Core i7-4550U has 4 MB of L3 cache and operates at 1500 MHz by default, but can boost up to 3 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i7-4550U on a 22 nm production process using 1,300 million transistors. The multiplier is locked on Core i7-4550U, which limits its overclocking capabilities.
With a TDP of 15 W, the Core i7-4550U consumes very little energy. Intel's processor supports DDR3 memory. This processor features the HD Graphics 5000 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-4550U, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.