It seems that finally Intel puts something on the table to compete seriously against AMD, with the presentation of the new Intel Tiger Lake with 11th generation Intel processors and the new integrated Xe GPUs the low consumption sector becomes interesting. These laptop-oriented processors represent a considerable jump in CPU power but without a doubt a revolution in GPUs that seem valid even for light gaming, something that Intel had given up on years ago.
The new 11th generation Intel processors called Intel Tiger Lake are made in 10nm SupeFin process and have support for DDR4-3200, LPDDR4X-4667 and even LPDDR5-5400 RAM. They also have support for USB 4, Thunderbolt 4 and PCI Express 4.0 connectivity that allows us to connect any next-generation GPU. According to Intel, the performance will be double that of the last generation, something that remains to be seen.
This family of processors for laptops stands out for the inclusion of a second core that is exclusively dedicated to wireless networks. We have integrated Wi-Fi 6 which surely brings us high efficiency as it is so close to the processor. Intel has made a strong commitment to this sector, and we have already seen its Wi-Fi 6 modules in countless devices.
Within this range of processors we have two classes divided by consumption, on the one hand the high consumption UP3 processors which are between 12 and 28W TPD and in the low consumption UP4 range we have processors between 7 and 15W TPD. A clear division for the laptop sector, we will have processors focused on classic format laptops and low power Ultrabook.
In addition to the new CPU cores, without a doubt the great attraction of these new processors are their Intel Iris Xe Graphics GPUs, for the first time in a long time it seems that Intel has taken this forgotten section seriously. Now Intel promises to leave far behind the Vega graphics processors of the AMD APUs that have done so much damage to them in the portable sector. According to Intel data we will have performance of almost 1.4x times AMD, something that we would also like to check soon.
It seems that after many accidents Intel has returned to the path of competitiveness and with Intel Gen11 processors + Xe GPU manufactured at 10nm we will have a worthy rival for AMD. But we still need to see these products on the market, real availability and above all the price, a key point. Some processors from the Gen11 range are already marked as available in 2021, although we have no doubt that by this Christmas we will have Intel Tiger Lake laptops, otherwise it would be bad news for everyone.