Intel refreshes non-Ultra Core CPUs with new silicon for the first time

Key Points:

• Intel has introduced new non-Ultra Core Series 3 laptop CPUs, codenamed "Wildcat Lake," featuring new silicon and a simpler design compared to the flagship Core Ultra Series 3 ("Panther Lake") processors.
• These Series 3 chips use two silicon tiles, including a compute tile with up to two P-cores and four E-cores, an integrated Xe3 GPU, and an NPU capable of up to 17 TOPS, alongside a separate platform controller tile providing Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, and PCIe 4.0 connectivity.
• Built on Intel's 18A manufacturing process with a base power of 15W and boost up to 35W, the chips support up to 48GB LPDDR5X or 64GB DDR5 memory and offer improved battery life, with Intel claiming up to 12.5 hours of office productivity and 18 hours of 1080p Netflix streaming.
• However, the built-in NPU's 17 TOPS performance falls short of the 40 TOPS required for Microsoft's Copilot+ PC features, meaning these new chips will not support certain AI and machine learning capabilities exclusive to Copilot+ PCs.
• Intel announced that over 70 laptop designs featuring these Core Series 3 processors will launch starting immediately and continue rolling out in the coming months.