Intel was expected to unveil the next generation of Intel Core processors at CES2017, and that is exactly what they did. The 7th generation of the Intel Core family was announced back in August of 2016, with some mobile chips released, and now the rest of the family follows.
So what do these processors offer? According to Intel themselves: “More productivity. More speed. More responsiveness. More security. More immersive experiences.” This suggests that the new processors not only feature some slight performance improvements but actually new features.
The Intel blog includes a breakdown of every new thing in the new CPUs, going into detail about what it all means for personal computing, gaming and basically every category where these processors are designed to be used:
Increased performance and reliability: We know performance matters. It’s why we continue to focus on improved performance, delivering double-digit productivity performance increases – up to 20 percent for performance and gaming notebooks and 25 percent for desktops. With 4K and 360-degree content – people can expect up to 65 percent faster performance on notebooks and 35 percent faster on desktops.
As stated above, there are definitely some performance improvements, but that isn’t the focus of the latest generation CPUs.
Enhanced Security: 7th Gen Intel Core and Intel Xeon processors strengthen security with advancements in hardware-enhanced security and two-factor authentication built in to the silicon. For consumers, this frees up the hassles of remembering and typing in passwords. It also offers secure payments through fingerprint touch-to-pay. For the enterprise, our new Intel Core vPro processors, as well as Intel Core processors for business, bring Intel Authenticate as a hardware-enhanced multi-factor authentication solution.
Intel mentions that the new Core and Xenon processors have increased security, and that “this frees up the hassles of remembering and typing in passwords” which sounds very interesting. The new security technology is embedded right into the silicon, with hardware powering it, instead of the less secure software.
The Intel Authenticate technology will allow users to easily unlock their PC’s with a Bluetooth device like a phone, fingerprint reader, iris scanner, other biometric devices and much more “making your login a million times safer”.
4K UHD Entertainment: Thanks to the new media engine in all 7th Gen Intel Core processors, it is possible to stream 4K UHD movies and TV shows on services such as Netflix on a computer for the first time. This means that critically acclaimed titles like “The Crown” and “Stranger Things” can be watched at home or on the go in brilliant 4K on your 7th Gen Intel Core computer.
The UHD (also known as 4K) content has an increased compatibility with the latest chips, as the newest Intel processors are more efficient in handling these high-resolution videos, as well as they haver better optimisation for the content, reducing battery drain and increasing performance.
VR and Gaming: With virtual reality and gaming growing at an incredible pace, the need for computing horsepower everywhere has never been more essential. In gaming and VR, the processor not only provides the power to drive these system-intensive games, but is also responsible for important capabilities like particle physics and object persistence.
The latest CPUs will be able to handle VR and Gaming with ease, as they are specially optimised for these tasks and have enough raw power to push these demanding tasks without slowing down, throttling and ruining the experience.
Many games should be able to run in Full HD (also known as 1080p) with ease, and the whole gaming experience should be very pleasant if bundled with a dedicated graphics card.
