Intel has launched its latest mobile processors: six new chips designed for Ultrabooks and other thin-and-light systems. Three 15W U-series chips are codenamed Whiskey Lake, and another three 5W Y-series parts are codenamed Amber Lake.
| Model | Cores/Threads | Clock base/boost/GHz | Level 3 cache/MB | TDP/W | DDR4/MHz | LPDDR3/MHz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whiskey Lake | ||||||
| i7-8565U | 4/8 | 1.8/4.6 | 8 | 15 | 2400 | 2133 |
| i5-8265U | 4/8 | 1.6/3.9 | 6 | 15 | 2400 | 2133 |
| i3-8165U | 2/4 | 2.1/3.9 | 4 | 15 | 2400 | 2133 |
| Amber Lake | ||||||
| i7-8500Y | 2/4 | 1.5/4.2 | 4 | 5 | 1866 | |
| i5-8200Y | 2/4 | 1.3/3.9 | 4 | 5 | 1866 | |
| m3-8100Y | 2/4 | 1.1/3.4 | 4 | 5 | 1866 | |
The CPU parts of these new processors are the same Kaby Lake Refresh parts as Intel launched a year ago—just with slightly tweaked clock speeds.
The differences lie in the on-package chipset. The U-series and Y-series processors integrate the chipset onto the processor package: the CPU is connected to the chipset by an interface that’s comparable to a PCIe 3.0 x4 connection. The chipsets provide USB, audio, network, SATA, and other connectivity.
The new chipset has two important upgrades relative to the older processors: first, an integrated Wi-Fi controller supporting 160MHz 802.11ac connections, for notional connection speeds in excess of 1 gigabit per second. OEMs need to add another chip (called a companion RF chip) to the motherboard to complete the Wi-Fi implementation. This should reduce the cost to OEMs and see greater adoption of Intel’s wireless chipsets.
Second, the integrated USB controller has been upgraded to support two USB 3.1 generation 2 ports; the previous chipset only supported generation 1. The difference between generations is speed: generation 1 operates at 5 gigabits per second and generation 2 at 10 gigabits per second.
The chipset also includes an integrated gigabit Ethernet controller (which again needs to be paired with a second component on the motherboard) and audio controller.
Given the minor processor refresh, we’d expect to see OEMs producing similarly minor system refreshes over the next few weeks.
