Intel’s 13th Gen laptop chips come with up to 24 cores
The 13th generation of Intel's mobile CPUs arrives and they're packed full of multi-threaded power
Intel has kicked off CES in style by announcing its 13th generation of mobile chips powering the upcoming laptops of 2023.
And for those with both the budget and a preference for power over portability, the flagship Intel Core HX processors can now hit speeds of 5.6GHz with as many as 24 cores: eight high-performance ones and 16 built for efficiency. That’s eight more efficiency cores than the previous generation, unveiled last May.
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While the Intel Core i9-13950HX processor offers an 11% single-thread speed boost over the Core i9-12900HX, the real boost is found when multitasking, where there’s a 49% improvement between generations. Intended for those who need raw power, such as gamers, content creators and engineers, the chipset also supports Intel Killer WiFi 6E, Bluetooth LE and Thunderbolt 4.
Of course, with a power draw of 55W, the HX chipset isn’t designed with efficiency in mind, and as such, Intel has uveiled three other more frugal members of its 13th-generation family.
The H-series (45W), P-series (28W) and U-series (15W) all weigh up the balance between performance, stamina and portability in different ways. But each come with up to 14 cores (6 performance and 8 efficiency), giving them a performance boost of up to 10% in office-based tasks over the previous generation. As with the HX chips, each offers support for Intel WiFi 6E, Bluetooth LE Audio and Thunderbolt 4.
Intel is also pleased with the progress its made on its integrated Iris Xe graphics, for machines without a dedicated mobile GPU. Apparently, 13th-generation Intel chips can deliver up to four-and-a-half hours of Rocket League or League of Legends play on battery, while XeSS — Intel’s AI-enhanced upscaling tech — can provide a 30% boost to FPS on supported titles, including Hitman 3 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
While it’s always sensible to be sceptical of internal benchmarks, the claimed improvements for the 13th generation of Intel Core laptop processors certainly sound promising. Hopefully we’ll have some hardware to test with our own benchmarks in the not-so-distant future.