There’s some cool stuff to be had in Intel’s upcoming Skylake processor family.
A leaked article that hit prior to the Gamescom trade show in Germany shows that the processors are expected to offer a 10 to 20 percent CPU performance boost in single and multi-threaded applications, with lower power consumption, and 30 percent faster Intel HD integrated graphics performance on average compared to current-generation Broadwell processors. The improved energy efficiency will also result in up to 30 percent longer battery life.
The processors are expected along the following lines:
– Y-Series (MacBook): Up to 17 percent faster CPU, up to 41 percent faster Intel HD graphics, up to 1.4 hours longer battery life
– U-Series (MacBook Air): Up to 10 percent faster CPU, up to 34 percent faster Intel HD graphics, up to 1.4 hours longer battery life
– H-Series (MacBook Pro): Up to 11 percent faster CPU, up to 16 percent faster Intel HD graphics, up to 80% lower silicon power
– S-Series (iMac): Up to 11 percent faster CPU, up to 28 percent faster Intel HD graphics, 22% lower TDP (thermal design power)
Apple’s refresh of its MacBook Air and 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro notebooks feature the Broadwell processor, but the refreshed 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro released in May remains powered by two-year-old Haswell architecture due to the lack of quad-core Broadwell processors appropriate for the notebook at the time.
Based on this and the fact that Intel announced a trio of Core i7 processors that could be used in the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro only weeks later, it’s plausible that Apple could skip the Broadwell processors and jump straight to Skylake-based processors in either late 2015 or early 2016.
Intel is currently rumored to be launching no less that 18 new Skylake processors for use in notebooks in the fourth quarter, beginning in November. The mid-range and high-end processors could be used in the next-generation 12-inch MacBook, MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors and FanlessTech