Intel introduces new Core Ultra 200 laptop processors

Intel Corporation today extended its product portfolio includes more than a dozen new processors aimed at the laptop market.

The chips join the company’s Core Ultra 200 product line, which debuted last year. It includes not only processors for laptops, but also chips aimed at desktop computers. Some of the chips in this series are based on computing chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rather than in Intel’s own factories.

High quality laptop chips

Most of the new laptop processors Intel unveiled today are part of the Core Ultra 200HX chip family. It is aimed at high-end laptops designed to run creative applications and video games.

There are 11 new Core Ultra 200HX processors in total. In terms of their design, they are virtually identical to the Core Ultra 200S desktop processors that Intel debuted last year. The difference is that the company has sacrificed some performance for lower power consumption and a more compact form factor.

The flagship Core Ultra 9 285HX processor features a CPU with eight performance-optimized cores and 16 cores that prioritize power efficiency. The two main clusters can reach maximum speeds of 5.4 gigahertz and 2.8 gigahertz, respectively. There is also a neural processor that manages up to 13 TOP or 13 trillion calculations per second when running artificial intelligence models.

Compared to previous generation Intel HX chips, the Core Ultra 200HX series delivers 20% faster multi-threaded performance. Single-threaded performance is up to 5% higher. Later this year, consumers looking for even more performance will be able to purchase laptops that combine a Core Ultra 200HX chip and Nvidia Corp. GPU.

Energy efficiency in focus

Intel is releasing the Core Ultra 200HX series along with nine new chips designed for thin, light, and energy-efficient laptops. These chips are divided into two collections.

The four most energy-efficient processors form a new product line called the Core Ultra 200U series. All four have two performance-optimized CPU cores, eight efficiency-optimized cores, and two low-power cores tasked with supporting computing tasks. The maximum clock speed of the chips varies from 4.8 GHz to 5.3 GHz.

Each Core Ultra 200U processor combines an integrated CPU and an integrated GPU with up to four cores. The GPU is based on Intel’s Alchemist architecture, which compresses some of the data being processed to reduce the amount of energy required to process it. There’s also a prefetch feature that moves some data points into the GPU cache long before they’re needed to avoid processing delays later.

The five other efficiency-optimized chips Intel unveiled today feature higher power consumption and performance. The new Core Ultra 200H processors, as they are called, offer up to six performance-optimized processor cores and eight efficiency-optimized processor cores. The integrated GPU has up to eight cores, which is twice as many as the most advanced chip in the low-power Core Ultra 200U series.

“Intel is poised to continue to expand its AI PC portfolio in 2025 and beyond as we test our flagship Intel 18A product for customers, which is now ahead of volume production in the second half of 2025,” said interim co-CEO. Intel Director Michelle Johnston. Holthaus.

The new chips come with updates to vPro, a set of features that businesses can use to manage their employees’ Intel-based computers. Some of these features are built directly into the chip manufacturer’s processors.

The latest version of vPro includes a module called Partner Security Engine, which can run firmware from Intel partners on enterprise laptops. This includes firmware that powers Microsoft’s Pluton coprocessor, which takes some cybersecurity tasks off the laptop’s processor. Partner Security Engine runs firmware in isolation from other applications on the computer to reduce the risk of hacking.

The latest version of vPro also includes new over-the-air troubleshooting tools. Out-of-band software works even when key components on which the computer depends, such as the operating system, are faulty. Intel says new troubleshooting features in vPro make tasks like recovering a laptop after a crash easier.

In turn, Intel will give video game enthusiasts the opportunity to overclock some of its high-end Core Ultra 200HX laptop chips. Overclocking increases the maximum frequency of the chip beyond the default maximum. Intel’s implementation of this feature allows users to accelerate not only the processor in the Core Ultra 200HX processor chip, but also the die-to-die interconnect that connects the processor to other processor components.

Image: Intel