Intel’s powerful 9th generation Core H-series processors are nearly upon us. Frederik Hamberger, general manager of premium and gaming notebook segments at Intel, told PC World that the new chips would be here “very, very soon”.
How do you define “very, very soon”? Well, the company had already revealed that the chips would be arriving in the second quarter of the year, which means June 30 at the absolute latest, according to the current schedule.
The upcoming chips are based on the 14nm Coffee Lake architecture, and will be aimed at high end and gaming laptops where performance is prioritised over battery life. They’re the kind of chips that will allow gamers to play triple-A titles on the go, while also recording and streaming for YouTube or Twitch.
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The company didn’t reveal a great deal more about the chips, but the technology included gives more hints at the kind of users Intel is targeting. The Core i9 mobile chips will apparently support WiFi 6 AX200, Intel Optane memory and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.
Intel pointed to market research that indicates half of gamers now regard themselves as content creators too, meaning that they need a laptop powerful enough not just to run the latest games, but to make video-editing software more than a slideshow.
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“These are not just our most demanding power users, they are the ones that use their laptops more than any group,” Hamberger said. “They spend more minutes of use per day than any of our other laptop segments.”
We’ll have to wait and see whether the new chips live up to these expectations. But the good news is we have a maximum of 101 days to wait.
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