The Intel Core i7-8550U is a mobile processor with 4 cores, launched in August 2017. It is part of the Core i7 lineup, using the Kaby Lake-U Refresh architecture with BGA 1356. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 8 threads. Core i7-8550U has 8 MB of L3 cache and operates at 1800 MHz by default, but can boost up to 4 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Core i7-8550U on a 14 nm production node, the transistor count is unknown. The multiplier is locked on Core i7-8550U, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 15 W, the Core i7-8550U consumes very little energy. Intel's processor supports DDR4 memory. This processor features the UHD 620 integrated graphics solution.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-8550U, 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) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.