Intel is hosting a small media event this week to unveil Lunar Lake to the press. We've got Leo there with boots on the ground, so here is everything we know about the upcoming Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) processors so far…
Watch the video on YouTube in 4K below:
Timestamps
00:00 First demo room – meet the new chips
04:40 LOADS of Lunar Lake laptops – ASUS & Acer
07:36 Samsung, MSI + Dell
10:27 Power and efficiency demos
12:28 Gaming + productivity testing
Intel says that the Core Ultra 200V series is the most efficient family of x86 processors ever. Designed to provide ample compute performance for AI on the go, there are over 80 laptop designs already planned to launch, including models from the likes of MSI, LG, Samsung, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Dell and more. Pre-orders for some of these laptops go live today, with retail availability scheduled for the 24th of September. While Microsoft partnered with Qualcomm for its CoPilot+ PC launch, Intel has managed to get in there, securing a deal to give owners of Lunar Lake-powered Windows 11 laptops a free upgrade to Copilot+, starting in November.
The Lunar Lake processors are aimed at delivering low-power leadership, so expect TDPs ranging from 9W to 33W. Apparently, eight Lunar Lake threads at 9W can beat out the performance of 14 Meteor Lake threads running at the same power level, so there is a good jump in efficiency here. Overall, Core Ultra 200V processors can offer up to 120 TOPs of performance across the CPU, GPU and NPU. The NPU in particular, which is for accelerating AI workloads, is up to four times more powerful than the previous generation in sustained AI workloads.
This performance jump is achieved through fine-tuned power management, combined with completely re-architected P-Cores and E-Cores, as well as all-new Low Latency Fabric and the removal of SMT from the P-cores to remove duplications and further improve efficiency.
Additionally, these processors will mark the debut of Intel's new Xe 2 graphics architecture, which delivers a 30 percent performance uplift on average compared to the previous generation. The Xe 2 iGPU will pack eight Xe-cores, eight ray tracing units and Intel Xe Matrix Extensions. For gamers, Intel is also set to debut enhanced XeSS kernels for better performance and visuals. The iGPUs being used here are specifically named the Intel Arc 140V, and some SKUs will pack the cut-down Arc 130V.
All Intel Core Ultra 200V powered laptops will also come with high-speed 8533 LPDDR5X memory, with up to 32GB capacity. Intel claims these processors can beat out the equivalent CPUs from Qualcomm and AMD by up to 40% and 15% respectively.
With the first Lunar Lake laptops set to hit the market later this month, we look forward to diving in to conduct our own thorough testing.
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KitGuru Says: Are you thinking of picking up a new-gen laptop this year? Will you be looking for one with a Lunar Lake CPU under the hood?