The first Intel Core Ultra processors should be arriving next month but there will be some more changes beyond the shift to Core Ultra branding. While previously, Intel separated its laptop processors based on TDP, with higher-power chips belonging to the H series and low-power SKUs going to the P series. This time around, there will be no such separation.
According to Golden Pig Upgrade (via HXL), there will be no P-series processors in the Core Ultra line-up. Instead, we'll have one line of Metor Lake-H processors, with the Core Ultra 9 offering the highest TDP at 45W, with the Core Ultra 5 and Core Ultra 7 processors offering a lower 28W TDP.
This change in strategy reflects Intel's previous segmentation approach seen in the Rocket Lake series, which created two distinct tiers, H35 and H45 (or simply H). In the case of Meteor Lake-H, the Core Ultra 7 and 9 CPUs have the same number of cores but differ in clock rates and TDPs. As a result of this change, lightweight laptops with Intel Core 100 Ultra processors will likely include Core 5/7 SKUs. More demanding activities, such as heavy professional workloads and gaming, would benefit more from the Core Ultra 9 SKUs.
In addition to these changes, Intel is rumoured to be working on the U15 and U9 series, which will have default TDPs of 15W and 9W, respectively. These models will use the standard U designation, which is often used for low-power CPUs from Intel.
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