Intel Haswell U, Two Low-Power Ultrabook Processors

In addition to the Haswell processors that Intel has launched at Computex 2013, the company has also revealed some information about the ones that will come out during the third quarter of the year.

Sure, there was some information about the mobile lineup, but details were conspicuous in their scarcity, for a time. Now, though, we at least know about two mobile processors that the Santa Clara, California-based company has prepared: the Core i5 4350U and Core i5 4200U. The U-Series, as they are called, are made for ultrabooks and, consequently, have very low TDPs (thermal design powers). The Core i5 4350U, for example, runs on just 15W of power. It is a dual-core model with a clock speed of 1.4 GHz, or 2.9 GHz when Turbo Boost enters the picture. Meanwhile, the HD 5000 integrated graphics processor (iGP) operated at 200 MHz normally, but can jump to 1,100 MHz in a pinch.

Between that, the 22nm manufacturing process, the Hyper-Threading technology (turns 2 cores into 4 threads/ logical cores) and the 3 MB cache, the CPU should work well in any instance. Sadly, the price of $342 / €258 – 342 will make sure that whatever system it lands in will have a higher than usual price. The second CPU, Core i5-4200U, is similar to the other one in that it has two cores and four threads. Its performance is lower though: 1.6 GHz base and 2.6 GHz Turbo. The graphics chip is weaker too. Called HD 4400, it runs at 200 MHz/ 1,000 MHz.

The price reflects the performance difference. Core i5-4200U will account for $287 / €216 – 287 of whatever laptop it is used in. At least the TDP of 15W will offset, somewhat, the price premium that ultrabooks will suffer. Then again, one has to wonder what became of that vaunted dream where such ultrathin laptops sold for $750 / €565 or less.

Intel Haswell U will be followed by Y
Image credits to WCCFTech

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