Intel has officially unveiled their upcoming “Skylake” processors for laptops, 2-in-1 PC, tablets, and other mobile PCs, besides desktops. The next-gen mobile CPUs are based on the same 14-nanometer production process as their “Broadwell” precursors, but they bring several architecture improvements for better performance, power efficiency, and multimedia capabilities.
With clock speeds 0.1 or 0.2 GHz higher than the corresponding older models, the Skylake mobile processors won’t be much faster when in comes to raw computing power. Depending on model, the boost will go up to 17 percent, according to Intel. Changes in the integrated graphics department aren’t revolutionary either, but Intel claims improvements over the previous integrated GPU lineup bring “up to 41 percent” better performance (on the Intel Core M series), also depending on model. We’ll still need to see the mobile Skylake benchmark results to give a final judgment about Intel’s claims.
With Skylake, Intel introduces brand new power-saving technology called Speed Shift. It’s designed to improve battery life of laptops and other devices, especially in certain scenarios, such as movie playback and idle state.
Regarding multimedia, Intel promises improved video and image processing via dedicated hardware on the CPU. The Skylake CPUs will provide users with smoother and more power-efficient high-resolution video playback and faster video transcoding acceleration, such as converting large 4K video files to lower-quality but smaller ones. For photographers, it’s worth noting that Intel has added hardware acceleration for converting DSLRs’ RAW images to standard formats such as .jpeg. Skylake also enables smooth high-resolution video recording using up to two video streams / cameras simultaneously. Supported video capture resolution is 1080p Full HD at 60Hz and 2160p Ultra HD (4K) at 30Hz.
To make Skylake more future-proof, Intel has added support for DDR4 RAM memory on select SKUs, while retaining support for DDR3 standard. Use of both memory types on the same platform is enabled thanks to new UniDIMM universal memory slots.
Alongside these improvements, Intel has enhanced other parts of the platform, such as Wi-Di wireless display technology, which now supports Ultra HD 4K (30Hz) wireless video streaming to external display instead of just Full HD. Regarding wired video output, Skylake adds support for up to 3 Ultra HD 4K monitors simultaneously. The chip maker has also implemented in the computing platform support for Thunderbolt 3.0 interface with fast 40 Gbps data transfers from an to compatible external devices, new USB-C standard, wireless charging, and more. These features, however, won’t be implemented on all, but only on select Skylake-based computer models.
Specifications and release dates for most Skylake processors are available now. They will start shipping in September.
Model | Cores & Threads | Speed | Cache | Graphics | Graphics Speed | Power | Available |
Skylake-U 6th Generation Intel Core i-Series – For Mainstream Laptops, Thin-and-Light Laptops, 2-in-1 PCs | |||||||
Intel Core i3-6100U | 2 / 4 | 2.3 GHz | 3 MB | Intel HD 520 | 300 / 1000 MHz | 15 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i5-6200U | 2 / 4 | 2.3 – 2.8 GHz | 3 MB | Intel HD 520 | 300 / 1000 MHz | 15 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i5-6300U | 2 / 4 | 2.4 – 3 GHz | 3 MB | Intel HD 520 | 300 / 1000 MHz | 15 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i7-6500U | 2 / 4 | 2.5 – 3.1 GHz | 4 MB | Intel HD 520 | 300 / 1050 MHz | 15 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i7-6600U | 2 / 4 | 2.6 – 3.4 GHz | 4 MB | Intel HD 520 | 300 / 1050 MHz | 15 W | Sept 2015 |
Skylake-U Intel Penitum and Celeron – For Budget Mainstream Laptops, Budget Thin-and-Light Laptops, and Budget 2-in-1 PCs | |||||||
Intel Celeron 3855U | 2 / 2 | 1.6 GHz | 2 MB | Intel HD 510 | 300 / 900 MHz | 15 W | Q1 2016 |
Intel Celeron 3955U | 2 / 2 | 2 GHz | 2 MB | Intel HD 510 | 300 / 900 MHz | 15 W | Q1 2016 |
Intel Pentium 4405U | 2 / 4 | 2.1 GHz | 2 MB | Intel HD 510 | 300 / 950 MHz | 15 W | Nov 2015 |
Skylake-Y Intel Core M-Series – For Thin and Light Laptops, 2-in-1 PCs, Tablets (Optionally Fanless) | |||||||
Intel Core M3 6Y30 | 2 / 4 | 0.9 – 2.2 GHz | 4 MB | Intel HD 515 | 300 / 850 MHz | 4 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core M5 6Y54 | 2 / 4 | 1.1 – 2.7 GHz | 4 MB | Intel HD 515 | 300 / 900 MHz | 4 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core M5 6Y57 | 2 / 4 | 1.1 – 2.8 GHz | 4 MB | Intel HD 515 | 300 / 900 MHz | 4 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core M7 6Y75 | 2 / 4 | 1.2 – 3.1 GHz | 4 MB | Intel HD 515 | 300 / 1000 MHz | 4 W | Sept 2015 |
Skylake-Y Intel Pentium – For Budget Thin and Light Laptops, Budget 2-in-1 PCs, and Budget Tablets | |||||||
Intel Pentium 4405Y | 2 / 4 | 1.5 GHz | 2 MB | Intel HD 515 | 300 / 800 MHz | 6 W | Nov 2015 |
Skylake-H 6th Generation Intel Core i-Series – For High-Performance Multimedia, Gaming, and Workstation Laptops | |||||||
Intel Core i3-6100H | 2 / 4 | 2.7 GHz | 3 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 900 MHz | 35 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i5-6300HQ | 4 / 4 | 2.3 – 3.2 GHz | 6 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 950 MHz | 45 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i5-6440HQ | 4 / 4 | 2.6 – 3.5 GHz | 6 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 950 MHz | 45 W | Oct 2015 |
Intel Core i7-6700HQ | 4 / 8 | 2.6 – 3.5 GHz | 6 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 1050 MHz | 45 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i7-6820HK | 4 / 8 | 2.7 – 3.6 GHz | 8 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 1050 MHz | 45 W | Sept 2015 |
Intel Core i7-6820HQ | 4 / 8 | 2.7 – 3.6 GHz | 8 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 1050 MHz | 45 W | Oct 2015 |
Intel Core i7-6920HQ | 4 / 8 | 2.9 – 3.8 GHz | 8 MB | Intel HD 530 | 350 / 1050 MHz | 45 W | Oct 2015 |
Skylake-H Intel Xeon – For Mobile Workstations | |||||||
Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 | 4 / 8 | 2.8 – 3.7 GHz | 8MB | Intel HD P530 | 350 / 1050 MHz | 45 W | Oct 2015 |
Intel Xeon E3-1535M v5 | 4 / 8 | 2.9 – 3.8 GHz | 8MB | Intel HD P530 | 350 / 1050 MHz | 45W | Oct 2015 |
Skylake-HK Intel Core – Overclockable CPUs for Gaming and Enthusiast Laptops | |||||||
Intel Core i7-6820HK | 4 / 8 | 2.7 – 3.6 GHz | 8 MB | Intel HD 530 | 850 / 1050 MHz | 45 W |
Besides the processors listed in the table, Intel is expected to launch additional Skylake-U series models with better Iris and Iris Pro integrated graphics, but also greater power consumption.
For the first time, Intel has launched Xeon CPUs for mobile workstation laptops, previously aimed only at servers and desktop workstations.
Further details about Skylake for mobile computers are expected to arrive soon. We’ll update this article as soon as we get new info.
Sources: CPU World, UMPC Portal
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