Intel ‘Lakefield’ Hybrid Core/Atom CPUs Launched for Folding Screen Laptops

Intel has introduced its first hybrid CPUs that mix its high-power and low-power architectures, often used within the separate Core and Atom product traces. The new ‘Lakefield’ CPU sequence fashions are focused at ultra-portable laptops and new type elements together with dual-screen and folding-screen fashions. Two CPUs have been introduced, the brand new Intel Core i5-L16G7 and Core i3-L13G4, every with one high-power core and 4 high-efficiency cores. They will first be seen in Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold and Samsung Galaxy Book S. This can also be the primary shopper software of Intel’s Feveros 3D stacking CPU building know-how.

Intel mentioned in its announcement that the mix of those new developments permits for a CPU that’s bodily 56 p.c smaller than present ones, resulting in smaller motherboards, better flexibility in PC design, and in fact smaller and lighter units. The chips eat as little as 2.5mW of energy in standby, which Intel says is a 91 p.c discount in comparison with an eighth Gen Core i7 Y-series cell CPU.

The Core i5-L16G7 and Core i3-L13G4 each characteristic one Sunny Cove core and 4 Tremont cores. Intel first introduced Sunny Cove in late 2018, and it’s the identical structure that underpins present 10th Gen 10nm ‘Ice Lake’ CPUs for laptops. Tremont can also be a 10nm structure and succeeds Intel’s earlier low-power designs present in Atom, Celeron and Pentium Silver CPUs within the desktop, server, and embedded areas.

The new hybrid CPUs will probably be a part of Intel’s 10th Gen Core sequence alongside present components primarily based on the Ice Lake and Comet Lake architectures. They will probably be differentiated by their numbering scheme, which exhibits the relative energy of every CPU and its built-in graphics capabilities, mirroring the present Ice Lake laptop computer household. They will probably be formally described as “Intel Core processors with Intel Hybrid Technology”.

Both new fashions have 7W TDP scores and 4MB of cache reminiscence. The Core i5-L16G7 has a base pace of 1.4GHz throughout all cores with single-core (the Sunny Cove core solely) and all-core enhance speeds of 3GHz and 1.8GHz respectively. It options 64 Gen11 graphics execution models. The Core i3-L13G4 runs at 800MHz with enhance speeds of two.8GHz and 1.3GHz respectively, and has 48 graphics execution models.

Intel guarantees an enormous leap in graphics efficiency for the 7W TDP CPU section. The Lakefield chips are additionally mentioned to be the primary with twin graphics pipelines, particularly optimised for multi-screen units. On-chip AI inference extensions are additionally supported, like with Ice Lake On the platform degree, there may be help for Gigabit-class Wi-Fi 6 and LTE options and LPDDR4X-4267 RAM.

The Foveros 3D stacking method allowed Intel to develop this modular design, leveraging blocks of know-how with totally different architectures. Lakefield combines 10nm cores with bigger IO elements primarily based on older processes, very similar to AMD’s present chiplet technique with its Zen 2 structure. This might assist Intel take care of its ongoing 10nm manufacturing difficulties.

The Lakefield chips measure 12mm sq. and 1mm thick. The concept of mixing heterogenous high-power and low-energy CPU cores is frequent within the ARM-based cell CPU area, with the association generally known as “big.Little”. Intel says that the Windows 10 scheduler is totally able to assigning duties to an acceptable core utilizing “hardware-guided” scheduling. 

Samsung’s Galaxy Book S would be the first laptop computer that includes the Lakefield CPU when it goes on sale in some components of the world later this month. Lenovo has additionally introduced its ThinkPad X1 Fold, which is predicted to ship earlier than the tip of 2020. Microsoft and Intel had beforehand introduced the dual-screen Surface Neo, which is now reportedly delayed or cancelled, and has not been talked about in immediately’s announcement. Intel had additionally proven off a concept folding laptop computer primarily based on a Lakefield CPU at CES 2020.