It appears that Intel’s upcoming Lunar Lake architecture CPUs could be a game-changer for laptop gamers. Intel has pledged a substantial increase in instructions per clock over Meteor Lake and confirmed that these new chips are set to launch this year.
Intel Lunar Lake is poised to succeed Meteor Lake, with a focus on laptops and other mobile devices. While this might not be a headline-grabber for desktop PC gamers, gaming laptop enthusiasts will likely rejoice at the promise of a ‘radically new low-power architecture and significant IPC improvements.’
During its CES 2024 Open House presentation, where Intel showcased the new chip, the company also announced that the CPUs are slated for release in 2024, though the exact launch date remains unspecified. It’s reasonable to assume we can expect it towards the end of the year.
Interestingly, these new chips mark Intel’s first departure from using its own manufacturing process for the main processing cores. While Intel has previously relied on other chip manufacturers for certain chip components, such as TSMC for the graphics portion of Meteor Lake, this marks the first time that the x86 processing cores will be non-Intel.
A glimpse at the sample CPU Intel presented reveals that it consists of one large die, likely composed of multiple tiles or chiplets, similar to Meteor Lake. The chip also appears to include on-package DRAM, potentially allowing it to replace separate DRAM modules or on-motherboard DRAM, potentially saving significant PCB space.
While less thrilling for most gamers but still noteworthy, these new chips will boast 3X the NPU AI processing power of Meteor Lake. Meteor Lake was the first Intel architecture to introduce dedicated AI processing NPU cores on its CPUs, and CES has been abuzz with discussions about the dawn of a new era of AI-powered PCs. This increased power will enable faster local AI-generated images, text, video, and more.
While Intel Lunar Lake holds exciting prospects for future laptops, if you’re currently in the market for a laptop, be sure to check out our best gaming laptop guide for buying advice.
