Also notable at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show was the announcement of the 4th-generation of Intel’s processor family. First shown-off by the firm in September 2011, the chips – (codenamed ‘Haswell’) – are expected to hit the market for desktop computers later this Spring, with the widescale adoption of Intel’s new processor family expected to begin at the end of this year.
The 4th generation of Intel’s Core processor family is said to enable “true all-day battery life” and consequentially represents the “most significant battery life capability improvement in Intel history.”
Upon announcing the new chips, Kirk Skaugen, Intel’s Vice President of PC Client Group, disclosed that new systems are “expected to deliver up to 9 hours of continuous battery life,” which, he noted, should – in turn – ‘free’ users from their previous dependency on wires and bulky power bricks.
In addition to announcing its new line of upcoming 4th-gen processors, the company this week also announced a new range of low-power Ultrabooks which are set to take advantage of the very latest technology contained within these highly-efficient chips.
“The 4th generation Core processors are the first Intel chips built from the ground up with the Ultrabook in mind,” Skaugen said. “We expect the tremendous advancements in lower-power Core processors, and the significant ramp of touch-based systems will lead to a significant new wave of convertible Ultrabooks and tablets that are thinner, lighter and, at the same time, have the performance required for more human-like interaction such as touch, voice and gesture controls.”
The news follows the company introducing its third-generation processor family (codenamed “Ivy Bridge”) in April of last year. The world’s first 22-nanometer product, the processors went on to become the driving force of a variety of portable notebooks, including many of Apple’s own offerings.
As for when we should expect to see these new chips show up in Apple’s product line-up? — The report estimates that widespread adoption of Intel’s 4th-generation processor family will likely take a further 12-18 months.
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