Intel has just unveiled its new Intel Core 3 Series processors from the Wildcat Lake family, a lineup designed for budget-friendly, energy-efficient mini PCs and laptops.
These processors offer some interesting specs; they’ll aim to attract users looking for affordable devices without top-of-the-line performance. As we’ll see, they have their strengths, but also some significant compromises. In any case, they won’t be replacements for the popular Intel N100 processors from the Alder Lake-N generation—those are still to come and will surely incorporate some of the features we see in these new Wildcat Lake processors.
These processors promise a 64% improvement in battery life thanks to their manufacturing process. Additionally, they incorporate an NPU for dedicated AI and upgrade to an Xe3 iGPU, boosting performance by 2.7x.
Specifications of the Intel Core Series 3 Wildcat Lake
This new generation features three product lines with the classic divisions, but the differences between them are not very significant. On the high end, we have the Intel Core 7 360 and Intel Core 7 350; in the mid-range, we have the Intel Core 5 330, Intel Core 5 320, and Intel Core 5 315, all with 6 cores—two high-performance P-cores and four low-power LP-cores. In this case, we have an iGPU with two Intel Xe3 cores, far superior to the older Intel HD Graphics. We also have a small NPU for AI tasks.
In the low-end range, we have the Intel Core 3 304, which offers 5 cores: one high-performance P-Core and four low-power LP-Cores. In terms of the iGPU, it features 1 Intel Xe3 core. These processors are manufactured using the Intel 18A process, have a power consumption of 15/35 W, and support either LPDDR5 RAM at 7467 MT/s with a maximum of 48 GB or DDR5 SODIMM at 6400 MT/s with a capacity of up to 64 GB.
Connectivity and RAM
The rest of the specifications also include some interesting features: there are 6 PCIe lanes for connecting devices, two Thunderbolt 4 ports up to 40 Gbps, two USB 3.2 ports, and up to 8 USB 2.0 ports. For connectivity, it features Wi-Fi 7 and next-generation Bluetooth 6.0.
On the other hand, the memory appears to operate in Single Channel mode, so we’re somewhat limited in this regard—which is a shame, because running in Dual Channel mode would be better for getting more performance out of the iGPU.
Availability
- Major brands such as ASUS, MSI, Lenovo, Acer, DELL, HP… already have their first products featuring this new generation of processors, mainly in entry-level laptops.
