Intel made two exciting announcements in the past week for different audiences. It would seem that there are more on the horizon with the upcoming event, the 2015 Intel Developer Forum, where Intel will hold sessions on topics from gaming to security to Internet of Things and more.
As for the announcements we already know, the company revealed plans for notebooks with Xeon processors this Fall and released
Intel Xeon-powered Notebooks
Intel announced that the first notebooks with Xeon CPUs will be available this Fall along with Thundebolt 3 technology. This will bring typically server-grade hardware to notebooks with the Skylake architecture. While this will bring more power to the portable platform, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the system is impacted. Will battery life take a hit? Will this allow for ECC memory in laptops? How will integrated graphics be handled? No word yet on specific OEMs that will be offering the Xeon-powered mobile workstations.
From the Intel Newsroom:
Content editors, designers and engineers take note – Intel is bringing the power of Intel® Xeon® processors to notebook PCs in a perfect balance between power and mobility. Designed from the ground up for mobile workstations, the Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1500M v5 product family, based on architecture code-named Skylake, brings high precision computing horsepower to a notebook and supports key features like error-correcting code memory for enhanced reliability while running critical workstation applications. The new products will be available with certified drivers for key engineering applications and support the unique hardware-assisted security, manageability and productivity capabilities of Intel® vPro™ technology. Mobile workstations featuring Intel Xeon processors as well as Thunderbolt ™ 3 technology will be available this fall. More information on the Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1500M v5 product family will be available soon. Content creators, designers and engineers get ready for more power and mobility.
Update: Lenovo has announced their ThinkPad P50 and P70 mobile workstations will come with the Xeon processors in Q4 2015.
Next-Gen Core i5 and i7 processors
At Gamescon in Germany, Intel announced the availability of the unlocked Intel Core i7-6700K and Intel Core i5-6600K desktop processors and corresponding Intel® Z170 chipset. Intel says “[t]hese products start laying the foundation for our 6th generation Intel® Core™ processor family and Intel® 100 Series chipset coming later this year.”
The processors are unlocked, use the LGA 1151 socket, and are compatible with DDR4 or DDR3L RAM. The Intel Core i7-6700K and Intel Core i5-6600K processors are available now at MSRPs of $350.00 and $243.00, respectively. More details and specifications are available in the product brief.
Intel also announced plans to deliver an unlocked 6th Gen Intel(r) Core™ processor “K” SKU for enthusiast notebooks later this year. This will be the first unlocked enthusiast “K” SKU for mobile.
