With Microsoft’s recent increased use of ARM processors in the Windows ecosystem, Intel is gearing up for a major battle in hopes that its x86 architecture remains a triumph. At Computex, the company announced a new initiative for thin and light Windows laptops that adds 5G mobile broadband through an Intel-developed modem called the Intel 5G solution 5000.
“We’ve taken the world’s best processor for thin and light Windows-based laptops and made it even better by adding two new Intel Core 11th generation processors with Intel Iris Xe graphics,” said Chris Walker, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of Mobility Client Platforms, in a statement before the technology conference in Taipei.
“In addition, we know that real-world performance and connectivity are vital to our partners and the people who use PCs every day, so we continue to build on that trend by expanding platform capabilities and choice in the marketplace with the launch of our first 5G PC product, the Intel 5G 5000 solution.”
The company is working with MediaTek and Fibocom to launch the Intel 5G solution 5000. Laptops with the Intel 5G model will appear later this year from manufacturers such as Acer, Asus and HP, according to the company. More than 30 laptop models are expected to support the Intel 5G modem by 2022. These laptops will feature the modem along with Intel’s 11th generation Core U- and Core H-series processors.
The modems are the company’s first M.2 5G solution and come with worldwide certification, which means that laptop owners with the Intel 5G 5000 solution will be able to move around the world and get 5G connectivity wherever it is available. Intel previously sold its smartphone modem business to Apple in a $1 billion deal, but the company continues to develop mobile 5G solutions for laptops.
Adding 5G mobile connectivity solutions to Intel’s mobile chipsets will help the company expand its Intel Evo initiative, which was originally launched as Project Athena. The Intel Evo program, designed to help Intel combat the growing threat from Qualcomm’s ARM-based Snapdragon rival processors for PCs, includes recommendations on performance, battery life, connectivity and design. Evo-branded laptops should be thin and light, while still delivering high performance and long battery life, characteristics also promoted by laptops based on the Snapdragon 8cx family of ARM processors. ARM-based laptops also support Qualcomm’s 4G and 5G mobile broadband.
And as Apple promotes ARM-based computing with the launch of its Silicon M1, Intel has plenty of chances to make laptops based on its chipsets more attractive. In addition to the 5G modem launch, Intel also announced two new 11th-generation mobile processor families at Computex to counter competition from AMD. The company introduced the Core i7-1195G7 and Core i5-1155G7, which are described as processors for productivity, content creation and gaming.
These are the first 5.0 GHz processors in Intel’s U-series of processors, and the company expects more than 60 consumer notebook models with the new processors to be released by the holiday. Taken together, that means Intel will have as many as 250 mobile models in the entire U-series processor family.
With up to 25 percent better performance than competitors in applications, the company said these two new processors deliver 1080p gaming, showing impressive performance in games such as Valheim. Here, Intel claims the chips deliver 2.7 times the frame rate in that game compared to AMD’s competing Ryzen 7 5800U processor.
