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Intel's Tiger Lake Laptop CPU Brings Thunderbolt 4, AI Graphics Processing

Tiger Lake CPUs will power laptops in many different form factors, including a foldable screen prototype with an OLED display that Intel showed off at CES.

By Tom Brant
January 6, 2020
Intel Tiger Lake

LAS VEGAS—The solder hasn't even cooled on Intel's brand-new 10th generation CPUs, but the chip maker is already talking up the benefits of its next mobile processor, which could show up in laptops by the end of the year.

CES 2020 Bug Art Intel teased the new chip, codenamed "Tiger Lake," here at CES. Like its predecessor, it will be built on a 10-nanometer production process, and its main improvements are better graphics performance and increased use of artificial intelligence to handle processing workloads.

Tiger Lake will offer "double-digit" performance gains, Intel claims, and both the CPU and the motherboard can fit onto a circuit board that's approximately the same size as today's M.2 solid-state drives. This miniaturization means that future laptops can offer better performance than today's ultraportables while fitting into even thinner and lighter chassis.

Some laptops with Tiger Lake processors are also expected to use Intel's upcoming discrete GPU, called the DGX1. Intel teased its discrete graphics processor last year at Computex, and at CES here it showed off a working demo of the GPU running Destiny 2 on a laptop. Other Tiger Lake laptops will include the next-generation "Xe" integrated graphics engine that Intel claims will offer "discrete-level" graphics.

Intel Horseshoe Bend

(Horseshoe Bend)

Intel envisions Tiger Lake being used in foldable-screen and dual-screen PCs, and it showed off its own foldable OLED display prototype at CES, code-named "Horseshoe Bend."

Tiger Lake also brings faster throughput for connecting peripherals in the form of Thunderbolt 4. Now that Thunderbolt is no longer proprietary to Intel, future versions will likely show up in many more PCs under various names, including USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4. It's unclear if Intel's Thunderbolt 4 speeds are the same as the previously announced USB 4 standard, but the company claims that Thunderbolt 4 offers four times the throughput of USB 3.

No Updates on Lakefield

Intel is concurrently working on yet another mobile platform, codenamed "Lakefield," for use in future foldable-screen and dual-screen PCs. One Lakefield device, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold, was teased at CES, but the details of the CPU are still scarce. It appears that devices like the Fold and Dell's Ori and Duet concepts, also teased at CES, can take their pick of Tiger Lake or Lakefield processors.

At its CES press conference, Intel also demonstrated its research into volumetric video processing, which could be used to offer virtual camera views in sporting events like football games. The company said it is theoretically possible for a sports producer to create virtual camera viewpoints today, but they need roughly six times more computing power than is currently available in order to render properly.

The data produced from the volumetric video of the first quarter of an NFL game alone reaches beyond 3TB per minute, Intel said.

Hands On With Dell's Ori Foldable-Screen Laptop
PCMag Logo Hands On With Dell's Ori Foldable-Screen Laptop

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About Tom Brant

Deputy Managing Editor

I’m the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I’ve evaluated the performance, value, and features of hundreds of personal tech devices and services, from laptops to Wi-Fi hotspots and everything in between. I’ve also covered the launches of dozens of groundbreaking technologies, from hyperloop test tracks in the desert to the latest silicon from Apple and Intel.

I've appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

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