Intel’s announcement of the Core Ultra 200V series, previously codenamed Lunar Lake, marks a significant strategic move in the competitive laptop market, particularly in the ultrabook segment.
This launch comes at a crucial time, as Intel faces stiff competition from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X and AMD’s Strix Point (Ryzen AI) processors, both of which have been making waves with their advanced features and AI capabilities.
Goodbye to Hyper-Threading (SMT) on Intel Core Ultra 200V
The first significant change with the Intel Core Ultra 200V processors is that they no longer use Hyper-Threading, also known as Simultaneous Multithreading. This means that these CPUs won’t have cores that can handle multiple tasks at the same time.
Instead, these processors feature a mix of four high-performance cores (P-Cores) from the Lion Cove family and four energy-efficient (E-Cores) from the Skymont family. Does this mean they’re less powerful? Not necessarily. It means that the lower the power consumption, the better the Intel Lunar Lake CPU performs. However, to match the Core Ultra 7 165H performance, these processors may need to use more power.
In Intel’s lineup, the processors are quite similar, all featuring 8 cores. However, the main difference between them lies in their maximum clock speeds.
For instance, the Intel Core Ultra 5 226V can reach up to 3.5 GHz on its energy-efficient cores (E-Cores) and 4.5 GHz on its performance cores (P-Cores). As you move up the range, the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V boosts these speeds to 3.7 GHz for the E-Cores and 5.1 GHz for the P-Cores.
Besides the clock speeds, there are also variations in the number of GPU cores, NPU engines, and the amount of RAM supported across different models.
Intel decides to copy Apple and its SoC model.
As mentioned earlier, Intel’s Core Ultra 200V processors are more than just CPUs—they’re SoCs (Systems on Chip). This means they don’t just include the CPU but also integrate the GPU, NPU, and RAM, similar to what Apple has done with its M1 chips.
Unlike the previous design, where RAM was soldered separately onto the motherboard in ultrabooks, with Intel Lunar Lake, the RAM is now packaged with the processor.
However, this design choice comes with a limitation: the maximum RAM capacity is capped at 32 GB, with options for either 16 GB or 32 GB of RAM in devices using these processors.
This integration aims to reduce latency and boost efficiency in data transfer to and from memory, which will be LPDDR5X-8500. Additionally, these SoCs are equipped to support the latest connectivity technologies, so laptops with Intel Core Ultra 200V will feature WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, Thunderbolt 4, and PCI Express 4.0 and 5.0.
Conquering portable consoles with the Intel Arc 130V and 140V
Intel is focusing heavily on the portable console market, where AMD has been dominating with its powerful integrated graphics. To compete, Intel has introduced its second-generation Intel Xe cores.
Intel claims these new Xe cores are 1.5 times faster than the previous generation, offering better performance than AMD’s. In their comparisons, Intel showcased the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V paired with Intel Arc 140V graphics going head-to-head with AMD’s HX 370, promising superior results.
Intel claims its GPU is 16% more powerful in popular games as long as the graphics settings are set to medium at 1080p resolution.
While Intel also compared its performance to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100, it’s not fair since the Snapdragon X isn’t primarily designed for gaming. Many of the games in these comparisons don’t even run properly on Windows on ARM devices.
There is no significant difference between the Intel Arc 130V and 140V graphics, with the former having 7 Xe cores and the latter 8. Among the Intel Arc 140V, we see a slightly higher turbo frequency as we get closer to the top-of-the-range processor: the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V, with 67 PTOPS of AI power.
Intel Core Ultra 200V arrives on Copilot+ PCs.
Computers equipped with this new generation of processors can now be considered Copilot+ PCs. With a power that starts at 40 TOPS and reaches 48 TOPS in the flagship processor, Intel Lunar Lake-powered computers will be part of the Copilot+ PC family.
Computers featuring this new generation of Intel processors are now classified as Copilot+ PCs. These Intel Lunar Lake-powered machines start with a processing capability of 40 TOPS, reaching up to 48 TOPS in the flagship model. As part of the Copilot+ family, these processors deliver up to a 58% improvement in AI performance. Intel claims that in tasks requiring GPU and NPU, the Core Ultra 9 288V significantly outperforms the Qualcomm X1E-78-100, particularly in areas like noise reduction, audio processing, and transcription.
However, Intel has noted that some AI features, such as live transcription and Windows Studio Effects, won’t be available at launch for Core Ultra 200V-equipped computers. These features are expected to arrive with an update in November.
Autonomy to try to beat ARM
Intel is promising a significant boost in battery life with its new processors compared to its previous Meteor Lake generation. Specifically, in the Dell XPS 13, Intel claims that battery life during Netflix streaming at 1080p has increased from 18 hours to up to 26 hours—an improvement of 44%.
However, these claims should be approached cautiously. The Snapdragon X Elite version of the XPS 13 reportedly offers up to 27 hours of Netflix streaming, which is slightly better. In terms of productivity, Intel asserts that its Core Ultra 9 288V outperforms the Snapdragon X Elite, delivering 14 hours of battery life in office tasks, compared to Qualcomm’s 9.5 hours.
But in a real-world test, such as a Teams meeting with three participants, the difference shrinks to just 30 minutes. It’s also important to note that these tests were conducted on an Intel machine with a 72 Wh battery versus a Qualcomm device with a 70 Wh battery, making the results nearly identical.
How to understand Intel Lunar Lake names
As you can see, the Intel Core Ultra 200V does not follow the typical Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 nomenclature. In addition, there is no distinction between cores and threads. However, the name of the processors has an explanation:
- All processors have four P-Cores, four E-Cores, and at least seven GPU cores and five neural computing (AI) engines. Most chips have a default TDP of 17W.
- Ultra 7 indicates that the GPU has 8 GPUs instead of seven, six neural computing engines instead of five, and 12MB of cache instead of 8MB.
- The Ultra 9 consumes a minimum of 17W and by default they are set to 30W.
- The first digit of each processor is always a 2, indicating that this is the second generation of Intel Ultra processors.
- The second digit is based on the processor frequency. If it is a 2, the frequency reaches 4.5 GHz on the CPU and 1.85 GHz on the GPU. As the number grows, these speeds increase by 200 MHz or 100 MHz.
- The third digit is the RAM memory. A 6 indicates that it will have 16 GB of memory, while an 8 indicates that it will be 32 GB of RAM.
- The V indicates that the architecture is Lunar Lake. In the coming months, S, U and H processors with different architectures will be introduced.
Availability of laptops with Intel Core Ultra 200V
The first laptops featuring Intel Core Ultra 200V processors are set to be released on September 24th. Notable models include the Dell XPS 13, Asus Zenbook S14, and HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14.
At IFA 2024, more laptops with these processors will be unveiled by brands like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, MSI, and Samsung, with up to 80 different models expected to hit the market.
