Intel launched its 14th Gen Meteor Lake Core Ultra mobile processor with NPU (Neural Processing Unit) for dedicated AI acceleration capabilities. A new generation of PCs has started, which Intel has named AI PC. Now, the term AI in software is not new, but dedicated hardware for AI is becoming a new benchmark for modern PC standards.
Generally, hardware-based AI often comes with smartphone SoCs such as Apple’s A-series chip providing a neural engine, Qualcomm Snapdragon having an AI engine, etc. Similarly, Apple M-series PC (Macbook,iMac) SoCs also feature neural engines for AI acceleration tasks.
Now, with Meteor Lake, users will benefit from a dedicated AI processing unit for various essential tasks. For which earlier users had to depend on CPU only. This new AI thing could make Meteor Lake the best laptop CPU for AI-rich tasks.
14th Gen Meteor Lake Branding Changed
For this reason or another, Intel changed the “i” branding in Meteor Lake to differentiate the new chip and address the advancements the company has achieved. Intel Meteor Lake CPU has a “Core Ultra” branding, and this chip uses a 3D performance hybrid architecture with Foveros die packaging.
Specs
Intel used its most advanced Intel 4 (formally 7nm) process node to build Meteor Lake Redwood Cove P-cores & Crestmont E-cores packed with new Intel Arc Xe integrated graphics inside, AI engine, and many more.
The built-in Intel Arc Xe GPU gives up to 2x performance, DX12 support, Advanced media encode/decode (including AV1), XeSS super sampling, AI accelerator, etc. According to Intel’s internal benchmark, 14th Gen Meteor Lake Intel Core ultra 7 165H is 11% and 8% faster than Ryzen 7840U and 13th gen i7-1370P in multi-threaded workloads, respectively.
Things become sceptical when the company’s own benchmark shows Meteor Lake’s slower single-threaded performance compared to the previous 13th Gen. However, In multimedia workloads, 14th Gen Meteor Lake showing impressive numbers (>up to 41%) against 13th Gen i7-1360P and Ryzen 7 7840U.
The 14th Gen Meteor Lake Ultra 7 165H and Ultra 7 155H gaming performance are better by up to 5% compared to Ryzen 7 7840U across an average of 18 games. Moreover, Meteor Lake offers 9% to 100% better gaming over the 13th Gen Intel Core i7-1370P 28W CPU. As per the Intel slide, Gaming benchmarks are at native 1080p medium settings, with no AI upscaling or XeSS used. With XeSS, performance can be uplifted by 39% on average.
Artificial Intelligence is the main highlight of the 14th Gen Meteor Lake CPU, as Intel has also quoted it as an AI PC. The advanced design of Meteor Lake provides a total of three AI engines, which are CPU, GPU, and NPU. That delivers up to 34 TeraOPS.
Moreover, the chip offers the latest WiFi 6E (Gig+), new Intel WiFi 7 (5Gig), Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps), and Intel Bluetooth 5.4. Intel Arc Xe GPU is reserved for H-series Core Ultra CPUs, while U-series CPUs will continue to use the older Intel Graphics. This new Generation only supports DDR5 memory type.
The Intel Core Ultra 7 and 5 H-series CPU come up to 16 cores/22 threads (6P+8E+2 low-power E-cores) and 14 cores/18 threads (4P+8E+2 low-power E-cores), respectively. The H-series base power consumption is 28W, and the maximum turbo boost power is around 64W to 115W.
The low-power U-series Core Ultra 7 and 5 offer 12 cores/14 threads (2P+8E+2 low-power E-cores), while the base power consumption is just 9-15W and turbo power is 30-57W. There is an SKU under both the Core Ultra 7 (Ultra 7 164U) and 5 (Ultra 5 134U) that offers 9W base power and 30W Turbo power. Surely, the extremely low-power 9W CPU models will power very light and thin notebooks.
Furthermore, for high-end laptops, the Intel Meteor Lake Core Ultra 9 185H CPU is available with 16 cores/22 threads (6P+8E+2 low-power E-cores). The base power is 45W, and turbo power is 115W.
More to Come
At present, the 14th Gen Meteor Lake Core Ultra CPUs are available only for laptops. It will take more time to come as a desktop part. Initial independent reviews show promising positive results for Meteor Lake’s performance. When more and more different laptops and notebooks become available, it will tell the full story of Meteor Lake’s capabilities.
