Broadwell "U" - class of SP4 (not Core-M)

[GreyFox7]

Details of the other Broadwell members, likely candidates for a future SP4 model begin to emerge.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/intel-reveals-faster-processor-it-hopes-will-spearhead-pc-revival/

A picture worth a thousand words.

More detailed report:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8814/intel-releases-broadwell-u-new-skus-up-to-48-eus-and-iris-6100

 

[GreyFox7]

I'm thinking there will be both Core-M and i5U/i7U SP4 models but no i3.

 

[GreyFox7]

Broadwell U CPUs and which ones might IMO be in an SP4 Bolded

Intel Broadwell-U 15W TDP + HD 6000 Graphics
CPU core ghz max 2c EUs GPU MHZ Mem MHZ L3 TDPd vPro cost
i7-5650U 2/4 2.2 3.2 3.1 48 300/1000 1866/1600 4MB 9.5W Yes $426
i7-5550U 2/4 2.0 3.0 2.9 48 300/1000 1866/1600 4MB 9.5W No $426
i5-5350U 2/4 1.8 2.9 2.7 48 300/1000 1866/1600 3MB 9.5W Yes $315
i5-5250U 2/4 1.6 2.7 2.5 48 300/950 1866/1600 3MB 9.5W No $315

Intel Broadwell-U 15W TDP + HD 5500 Graphics
CPU core ghz max 2c EUs GPU MHZ Mem MHZ L3 TDPd vPro cost
i7-5600U 2/4 2.6 3.2 3.1 24 300/950 1600/1600 4MB 7.5W Yes $393
i7-5500U 2/4 2.4 3.0 2.9 24 300/950 1600/1600 4MB 7.5W No $393
i5-5300U 2/4 2.3 2.9 2.7 24 300/900 1600/1600 3MB 7.5W Yes $281
i5-5200U 2/4 2.2 2.7 2.5 24 300/900 1600/1600 3MB 7.5W No $281
i3-5010U 2/4 2.1 2.1 2.1 23 300/900 1600/1600 3MB 10W No $281
i3-5005U 2/4 2.0 2.0 2.0 23 300/850 1600/1600 3MB 10W No $275

 

[leeshor]

Here is an article that may disappoint expectant Broadwell fans. You may want to skip to item #5

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2864...t-intels-new-broadwell-chips.html#tk.nl_today

 

[jnjroach]

Here is an article that may disappoint expectant Broadwell fans. You may want to skip to item #5

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2864...t-intels-new-broadwell-chips.html#tk.nl_today

That is hilarious that PCWorld would go there....Broadwell U is for Laptops and Hybrids but not for tablets like the SP3....which by Intel's definition is a 2 and 1 Hybrid....oh well that's the Tech Press

 

[leeshor]

Very true!!!

 

[GreyFox7]

PC World... TRIX are for kids and Broadwell U is for Laptops...

I guess I'll have to live with only typing 4% faster in Word.

 

[GreyFox7]

Here's the thing, SP3 gets somewhere less than 100% of the performance of the Haswell CPU due to heat throttling so forget stock Intel numbers on performance as they are based on reaching full performance. Depending on your workload there is a nice performance boost in the graphics area. However, I think the most interesting number is the battery life increase, that means it's more power efficient which translates to less heat and consequently less throttling in the same chassis as an SP3, all other factors remaining the same. We will see when it comes out but I think there's a potentially larger SP4 performance gain than the stock performance numbers might indicate.

 

[maflynn]

Here is an article that may disappoint expectant Broadwell fans. You may want to skip to item #5

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2864...t-intels-new-broadwell-chips.html#tk.nl_today

Given that I just bought an SP3 last week, I'd say that's kind of good news to me

Reading the whole article, cements my opinion that Broadwell is more of die shrink, so the improvements are mostly with the power consumption, though the GPU is supposed to be better.

I still wouldn't put it past MS to use the new Broadwell U chips in the SP4

 

[GreyFox7]

Given that I just bought an SP3 last week, I'd say that's kind of good news to me

Reading the whole article, cements my opinion that Broadwell is more of die shrink, so the improvements are mostly with the power consumption, though the GPU is supposed to be better.

I still wouldn't put it past MS to use the new Broadwell U chips in the SP4

Id expect they absolutely will use U series chips at least for the mid to upper models. The performance trade off is too great with anything else.

The SP3 proves Intel's chip management technologies allow a high performance chip to operate in a constrained environment and deliver better overall system performance than a lower powered chip. Restated another way, using a 15w chip at less than full potential delivers better performance than using a 5w chip or a 10w chip.

With Core-M though they have the option of producing a device using a 5w chip with better performance than an Atom based unit and pushing it up to 7-8 Watts while perhaps achieving 12+ hour battery life.

Then you would have choice... Core-M with longer battery and less performance or i5/i7 with higher performance.
Of course other vendors will still be making Atom and Core-M devices but we haven't really seen anyone else pushing the envelope to match the Intel Reference Design or Surface.

 

[zhenya]

I think we might see a light refresh for the SP4 with a Broadwell chip as it fits in the same socket and would allow MS to amortize sunk development costs over a longer period of time. I think the big change will come with Skylake and Windows 10 though and I hope at that time we get a fanless option and 10+ hours of real battery life in an even thinner and lighter package.

 

[jnjroach]

One thing to keep in mind here, the Core M is a rebranded name for the "Y" Variant of the Haswell Line, which had the same design goals, the Core M is a TOC of the Haswell Y TIC...the SP3 uses the "Y" in the i3 and the "U" in the i5 and i7 models.

I believe the SP4 will have a Core M on the low end that will replace the i3 and we'll see an i5 and i7 U Model as well, but we won't see these until summer at the earliest.