14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has been trying to turn x86 into a central processing unit architecture suitable for mobile devices for years, and in 2013, it might just succeed, even if it doesn't exactly catch up with ARM in the low-power department.
Last we heard about Intel's CPU roadmap, there were solid plans for launching Haswell chips in 2013 with thermal envelopes of as low as 10-13W.
Few people, if any, considered that the Santa Clara, California-based chip giant could and would take things even further than that.
True, the chips are still rated at 10W TDP, but they are expected to consume just 7W under typical conditions.
The names of the units are Core i7-3689Y, i5-3439Y, i5-3339Y and i3-3229Y.
Their clock speeds are of 1.4 to 1.5 GHz, which should be enough for tablets, especially considering that these are dual-core designs.
In fact, they even have support for Hyper-Threading technology, which makes it seem as though there are actually four cores (four logical cores).
Meanwhile, graphics capabilities are provided by the HD 4000 accelerator.
All the chips support Turbo Boost dynamic overclocking, with the exception of the Core i3-3229Y.
All in all, the upcoming Core-Series chips look like slightly more powerful alternatives to the Intel Atom Z line and AMD's Z-Series accelerated processing units.
On a related note, Chipzilla is putting together a Pentium processor as well, called Pentium 2129Y. It is a dual-core unit with a 1.1 GHz frequency and Intel HD IGP.
It is hard to say how the Windows on ARM versus Windows on x86 fight will go from here. The former will continue to have a battery life advantage, but the latter should last for a good many hours as well at this point.
App abundance, user tastes, familiarity (or lack thereof) and marketing prowess will probably decide things.