Faster, stronger, and battery life that's practically everlasting: Intel's 4th generation processor, otherwise known as Haswell, is finally here.
Since its announcement in September of 2011, specs and rumors have steadily leaked regarding the sheer power of this new CPU, including a boost of 50 percent more battery life and some serious performance gains. Intel has just released the details of these chips, and the specs appear to back up these claims.
[sidebar]
When compared to the 3rd generation Ivy Bridge processors, Haswell CPUs have more processing power with less energy consumption. The above chips have improved graphics chips compared to the previous generation models, two of which are fitted with the premium Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 chip.
But even the Intel HD Graphics 4600 is a big step up from the previous Intel HD Graphics 4000, and users should see a decrease in video rendering times and an improvement in overall graphics quality.
Intel claims that these new chips have the greatest battery life increase in Intel history, with some benchmarks showing a 50 percent increase during HD video playback with the new processors. This is thanks to an efficiency increase with the 4th generation chips, using less wattage when performing tasks such as watching HD video or using processor-intensive applications.
Expect to see notebooks using the new chip in the coming months.
Get a daily look at what’s developing in science and technology throughout the world.