Lenovo, MSI, Acer, and Asus unveil laptops with Intel’s Core Ultra chips, featuring an NPU for “low-power AI acceleration and CPU/GPU off-load” for AI tasks 現金筆電收購

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AMD’s Ryzen 7 7840U “at the same 28W envelope for ultrathin notebooks.”All of Intel’s new CPUs will also come with an NPU, or a neural processing unit, offering “low-power AI acceleration and CPU/GPU off-load” capable of performing AI-powered tasks, like background blur, eye tracking, and picture framing. The integration is supposed to make it more efficient to run AI models like Stable Diffusion when compared to Intel’s previous generation of chips. Image: IntelAlthough Intel mainly highlighted the strengths of its Core Ultra 7 165H chip, the flagship Intel Core Ultra 9 185H is the leader of the pack, with 16 cores and 22 threads. Of those 16 cores, it has six performance (P) cores and eight efficient (E) cores.There are also two low-power (LP-E) cores that live on the chip’s “low power island,” a new section that handles less demanding workloads for increased efficiency. The Core Ultra 9 185H has an up to 5.1GHz boost clock as well as a built-in Arc GPU with eight Xe cores running at up to 2.35GHz. The new Xe LPG architecture allows for increased performance at a lower minimum voltage and also adds support for Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology and ray tracing.The addition of an NPU comes just months after Microsoft shipped the first Intel NPU in a Windows laptop as part of the Surface Laptop Studio 2. The software maker didn’t explain the ways this NPU could be leveraged in Windows beyond the usual Windows Studio effects, but Intel is clearly laying the chip groundwork here for larger AI features that will likely arrive in the next version of Windows. Image: IntelWhile Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H processor won’t be available until 2024, the majority of its other Meteor Lake chips are launching today. That includes Intel’s second-most powerful chip, the Core Ultra 7 165H, featuring 16 cores and 22 threads and an up to 5.0GHz boost clock. There are also the Core Ultra 7 165U, Core Ultra 5 135H, Core Ultra 5 135U, and several other options that aren’t quite as powerful as Intel’s flagship. It’s worth noting that only Intel’s H-series chips come with a built-in Arc GPU, as the company’s U-series CPUs just offer integrated Intel Graphics. You can check out all of the chips and their full list of specs in the above chart. Image: IntelA bunch of new laptops have already adopted the new Intel Core Ultra chip. For starters, 現金筆電收購msi is launching the high-end Prestige 16 AI Studio laptop, which weighs three-and-a-half pounds but comes with some pretty impressive specs, including up to Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H processor and Nvidia’s 4070 laptop GPU. There’s a 13-inch Prestige AI Evo model that comes with up to the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor. 現金筆電收購msi’s 16-inch Prestige AI Studio laptop starts at $1,899, while the Prestige 13 AI Evo costs $1,049 and up.Asus is also giving its laptops an Intel Core Ultra-powered spec bump, too. It’s launching a lightweight Zenbook 14 OLED laptop featuring up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip with Intel Arc graphics. The laptop starts at $1,299.99, with “additional configurations” — likely including Intel’s Core Ultra 9 chip — arriving in early 2024. Samsung launched a refreshed Galaxy Book4 lineup also featuring options with Intel’s flagship chip.PreviousNext1/5 Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergePreviousNext1/5 Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeMeanwhile, Lenovo has revealed a trio of laptops equipped with the new chip, including the 12th-gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the 9th-gen ThinkPad X1 2-in-1, and the IdeaPad Pro 5i. These three models are pretty pricey, with the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon starting at $2,989 in “limited configurations” and the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i starting at $1,149.99. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 starts at $2,639, with availability starting in March 2024.As if all of that wasn’t enough to process, Acer is also jumping on the Intel Core Ultra bandwagon with the new Swift Go 14 and the gaming-focused Predator Triton Neo 16. The Swift Go 14 laptop comes with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, while offering up to 12.5 hours of battery life and up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM for a starting price of $999.99. Meanwhile, the Predator Triton Neo 16 comes out in March 2024 and features up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H chip as well as up to an Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU. The Predator Triton Neo 16 starts at $1,499.99.While there’s clearly no shortage of laptops taking up Intel’s revamped chips, you may want to wait until Intel releases its Core Ultra 9 next year to get top-of-the-line models.Update December 14th, 2:11PM ET: Added information on Samsung’s Galax

（圖／記者吳佩樺攝）

近年 Steam Deck、華碩 ROG Ally 以及微星 現金筆電收購msi Claw 陸續上市，遊戲掌機再度帶起熱潮，成為更大品牌兵家必爭之地，作為遊戲業巨頭的 Sony、微軟似乎不打算在這一波浪潮之中落後，近期均有傳聞指出有意參戰的可能性。

知名爆料客 Tom Henderson 先是透露，微軟正在評估是否要推出 Xbox 掌機，而後也獲得熟悉微軟內部消息的外媒《Windows Central》記者 Jez Corden 證實，並指出，微軟剛許可一系列硬體開發計畫，其中就可能與掌機有關。不過進一步的細節目前仍無法得知。

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另一名爆料客 Moore’s Law Is Dead 則透露，Sony 正在研發一款與當前 PlayStation Portal 截然不同的掌機，不需要倚靠網路串流，而是藉由搭載 AMD 的客製化 APU，可以在掌機本地運行 PS4 遊戲，以及部分 PS5 作品也能遊玩，預期最少需要兩年時間進行開發，並且推估 GPU 時脈會落在 1.8GHz 左右。

倘若 Sony 與微軟選擇參戰，勢必會與 PlayStation 以及 Xbox 平台有關，像是 Sony 將能讓 PS5 或 PS4 的獨佔作品，首度開放無限制的掌機遊玩方式，而微軟則能拓展 Game Pass 訂閱服務的吸引力，不過能否與當前諸多效能強大的 PC 掌機做出差異性，或將是後續的一大看點。

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