Intel plans to bring its next-gen chip architecture to tablets

Jun 3, 2014 12:03 GMT  ·  By

Intel and tablets seem to be two words that belong in the same sentence more and more. The chip-maker is on the grounds at the Computex Trade show in Taiwan and is showing something of interest, tablet-wise.

Intel plans to launch next-gen Core processors at some point this year (the exact date has been speculated), but they won’t be implementing them into notebooks and desktops only.

The company plans to slip the new chip architecture into its latest love, tablets. With this in mind, Intel is showcasing an extremely thin and sleek tablet reference design based on Broadwell architecture, reports Engadget.

The tablet showed before the world today has been equipped with a 14nm “Broadwell” processor which Intel represented as being part of a brand new category called Intel Core M.

The company says it will be the most energy-efficient member of the Intel Core processor family and it makes sense, considering this their latest iteration.

So we can expect that when Broadwell-embedded tablets hit the street, they will be super thin and light and take advantage of passive cooling.

Intel make a few claims, which isn't unusual for their product launches. The company promises 60% lower TDP, 20-40% Better Performance, 10-45% lower SoC power and approximately 50% smaller package footprint.

The reference tablet we got to meet today for the first time, comes with a 12.5-inch display and judging by the Transformer Book models we saw being unveiled by ASUS not so long ago, this form factor will be heavily pushed in the remaining months of the year.

Anyway, down to numbers, the tablet is 0.28 inches / 7.11 mm thick and weighs around 1.5 lbs / 0.6 kg. Like many of the devices we saw being unveiled at Computex, Intel’s new Broadwell slate can also be used as most 2-in-1s can.

Intel's new tablet with keyboard dock
Intel's new tablet with keyboard dock
Snap a keyboard to the display and, voila, you have a nice laptop on your hands. However, the extreme sleekness is lost if you choose to opt for the latter mode. Intel says it also has a “media dock” which should add a sensible performance boost and aid cooling too.

Basically, the Core M chips are Broadwell-based designs created specifically to go into 2-in-1s. And by the looks of it, they will be getting thinner and thinner.

Intel hasn't said anything about how these next-gen devices will be priced, but we assume they won’t be super affordable. Nevertheless, the new tablets will quite interesting to behold.

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Intel shows new reference tablet design with Broadwell
Intel's new tablet with keyboard dock
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