The CPU world is about to change with Intel’s Alder Lake series of hybrid processors

LaptopMedia.com Highlights The CPU world is about to change with Intel's Alder Lake series of hybrid processors

From: Severin Kolakov 05 January 2022 / 13:35 | 0

The effects of Apple’s implementation of ARM technology are starting to be felt around the whole laptop market. Intel’s answer to them is their newest 12th Gen CPU family called Alder Lake. This is a literal example of why competition is good for the market and for the consumers.

If everyone tries their hardest to be the best, in the end, we are the winners as we get powerful hardware for a good price. Today we will solely focus on the laptop versions, which come in three variants with an H-series, a P-series, and a U-series, which vary in performance and power efficiency.

Today we are giving you a quick overview of the new Alder Lake series from Intel.

Specs table

	Core i9-12900HK	Core i9-12900H	Core i7-12800H	Core i7-12700H	Core i7-12650H	Core i5-12600H	Core i5-12500H	Core i5-12450H
Cores	6P + 8E = 20T	6P + 8E = 20T	6P + 8E = 20T	6P + 8E = 20T	6P + 4E = 16T	4P + 8E = 16T	4P + 8E = 16T	4P + 4E = 12T
Boost speed (Efficiency cores)	3.80GHz	3.80GHz	3.70GHz	3.50GHz	3.50GHz	3.30GHz	3.30GHz	3.30GHz
Boost speed (Performance cores)	5.00GHz	5.00GHz	4.80GHz	4.70GHz	4.70GHz	4.50GHz	4.50GHz	4.40GHz
Base TDP	45W	45W	45W	45W	45W	45W	45W	45W
Boost TDP	115W	115W	115W	115W	115W	115W	115W	115W

The interesting thing about these new chips is the hybrid architecture. This is something that has been a given in smartphones, as many mobile SoCs use the same ARM-based big.LITTLE philosophy to create chips that are both powerful and power-efficient.

The interesting thing is that Intel isn’t using ARM’s designs, and has gone the tough route in creating its own architecture. This is a good move, as it gives Intel some independence, not having to rely on someone else for their success. The new architecture uses the new 7nm process node, which is a jump from the 10nm process that Tiger Lake used, and finally puts it on par with AMD’s Zen 3 and Zen 3+.

The new chips also bring PCIe Gen 4 support, DDR5 support with speeds up to 4800MHz, while retaining the Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi6E connectivity from previous generations.

The H-series CPUs will all come with a 45W TDP and are oriented towards gamers and enthusiasts, while the U-series will have a max TDP of 15W and are for portable and lightweight devices, which has been seen in Tiger Lake and previous Intel CPUs. The new P-series has a TDP of up to 28W and is a mix of both worlds and will be a great option for lots of consumers who cant decide if they want the H-series or the P-series.

About what you can expect performance-wise, Intel has provided some metrics, which should be taken with a grain of salt, as corporations will go a long way to make themselves look better against the competition. Still, the new Core i9-12900HK shows higher results than the M1 Max and the Ryzen 9 5900HX in a variety of benchmarks, including Premiere, Lightroom, AutoCAD, and Revit.

Until the new Alder Lake-equipped laptops hit the market, you can check out notebooks with some of the more popular Tiger Lake processors, which come in a variety of configurations, core count, and power efficiency.