Intel debuts Panther Lake laptop chip with massive performance gains
What's the story
Intel has unveiled its latest laptop chip, Panther Lake, also known as the "Intel Core Ultra Series 3." This is the first chip to be manufactured using Intel's new 18A process technology. The company is betting big on this chip to regain its position as a leader in manufacturing and technology. The Panther Lake will come in different versions, including an 8-core CPU with four Xe3 graphics cores and a 16-core CPU with 12 Xe3 graphics cores and ray-tracing units.
Performance boost
The Panther Lake will replace Lunar and Arrow Lake
The Panther Lake chip is designed to offer more battery life, performance, and gaming graphics at an affordable price. It will replace both the lighter-weight Lunar Lake and the heavier Arrow Lake-H currently used in powerful laptops. Despite ditching the onboard memory that made last year's Lunar Lake efficient, Intel claims you can expect up to 10% lower power consumption across the entire chip compared to Lunar Lake.
Enhanced efficiency
Promises over 50% more GPU power
Intel's new Cougar Cove performance cores (P-cores) and Darkmont efficiency cores (E-cores), built on the 18A process, promise a whopping 40% lower power consumption at "similar" single-threaded performance. The new graphics also promise over 50% more GPU power than their predecessors. Even the most basic version of Panther Lake, with just four Xe3 graphics cores, is expected to offer better battery life than its predecessor.
Versatile application
Precompiled game shaders for smoother gameplay
The Panther Lake chip will not just be limited to thin-and-light machines. It will also power more powerful laptops, making it a versatile addition to Intel's lineup. The company has also revealed that it is precompiling game shaders, storing them in the cloud, and letting users automatically download them for smoother gameplay. This feature comes as part of the Intel Graphics Software package and can be turned off if desired.
AI integration
Upgraded NPU for AI tasks
The new Panther Lake chips will also feature an upgraded NPU for AI tasks. It is slightly more powerful than its predecessor but takes up less space and cost. The chips will support up to 96GB of LPDDR5 memory or 128GB of DDR5 as well as compression-mounted modular LPCAMM memory. They will also come with an updated image processing unit that offers new AI-based noise reduction and local tone mapping for webcams and other uses.