What are Intel Core Ultra processors?
What's Intel® Core™ Ultra?
In addition to announcing the 14th generation processors and removing the 'i' from the product name, Intel also announced the Core™ Ultra series. Intel mainly makes these processors for the more expensive and business segment. In addition, Intel indicates that these processors under the name of Meteor Lake will only be available in laptops for the time being. The biggest additions are the more powerful video chip, an extra energy-efficient build, and a lot of support for AI functions.
What's the performance of Intel® Core™ Ultra processors?
Clock speed
The Intel® Core™ Ultra processors clock between 4.5 and 5.1GHz. As a result, they're almost the same as the 13th generation processors. This doesn't seem like an improvement, but the improvement is mainly in the efficiency of the processors. The Intel® Core™ Ultra processors have more and smaller pins, making them more energy-efficient while achieving these high speeds. This makes it easier for these processors to run at the highest settings.
Cores and threads
With more cores and threads, processors can run multiple and more demanding tasks at the same time. That's why all Intel® Core™ Ultra processors have more of these cores and threads than the mainstream Core series. In addition, all Core Ultra processors have 2 special LP cores. These 'low-power' cores reduce the energy consumption of the processor during basic tasks. So the laptop uses less power and your battery lasts longer.
Video card
The video chip on these processors is a combination of Intel Iris Xe and Intel Arc Alchemist. This Xe-LPG combination has a higher clock speed with lower energy consumption. So you can handle more demanding graphic tasks without overloading the laptop. In addition, these GPUs have Ray Tracing support. This allows you to see extra realistic lighting effects. For example, you can make extra precise edits to your photos and videos.
Intel® Core™ Ultra vs Intel Core
The biggest difference of the Intel® Core™ Ultra series is that it's especially suitable for demanding use. For example, the first tests of the Ultra 7 show that multi-core tasks like video editing or 3D design run just as fast as with the most powerful 13th generation Intel i9 processor. We expect these test results to be even higher. This is partly thanks to the smaller pins, as we mentioned about the clock speed before. In addition, the Core Ultra series supports higher resolutions. The new video card runs smoothly on HDMI and DisplayPort 2.1, with resolutions up to 8K. This allows you to edit large photo and video files down to the smallest details.
What AI functions does Intel® Core™ Ultra have?
In addition to all the specifications, AI is the biggest addition to Intel® Core™ Ultra. Thanks to a special VPU and NPU, the Ultra series with artificial intelligence and machine learning ensures the best personal usage situation. These AI chips support the processor and video card, giving them better performance. During the demo, Intel showed how the camera automatically recognizes and suppresses noise during video calls. Another example is the support of a stable diffusion app. With this technology, the AI can take photos based on a search, for example.
What other functions does Intel® Core™ Ultra have?
While the performance and AI technology stand out, the Core Ultra processors have more new functions. For example, these processors support WiFi 7. This works up to 5 times faster than WiFi 6. This is a great advantage if you work online a lot or need a strong internet connection for downloads and uploads. In addition, the Core Ultra processors support Thunderbolt 4 and have up to 24MB of L3 cache. This cache ensures that frequently used files and programs run extra fast. In short, the Core Ultra processors provide a powerful user experience for demanding use.
