Intel Unveils 10th-Gen Processors Suitable for Next 16-Inch MacBook Pro With Wi-Fi 6 and Turbo Boost Speeds Above 5GHz

[Falhófnir]

The $64,000 question is where are the “10th Gen” U-Series parts that Apple would typically use for the 13” MacBook Pro? I have not seen any rumors regarding 15w or 28w U-Series containing Iris Plus GPUs, either at 10nm or at 14nm+++. Actually the lack or rumors around these CPUs has been deafening.

I can only speculate that Apple is going to have to re-use the current 8th Gen U-Series CPUs in any new 14” MacBook Pro with scissors keys.

I was wondering the same - but maybe they could try to set the TDP of the Ice Lake parts up to their max 20W and use the MBP's better cooling infrastructure to eke better performance out of virtually the same chips as the MBA? The Air does leave a fair chunk of those chips' performance on the table with its semi passive cooling set up.

 

[cmaier]

“Laws of Physics” === “Intel Stuck on 14nm Process”

Physics applies equally to all. That's what makes it physics.

Yet somehow only Intel is stuck on 14nm+++++.

 

[Ballis]

Is this for the iMac, or are those ising desktop chips? I need a new iMac yesterday but refuse to buy anything without wifi 6

 

[UltimaKilo]

It’s not the law of physics. It’s the law of not executing. They are still on their 14nm process, which is ridiculous.

What does the die size matter? They still have the beefiest CPUs on the market and these clock speeds are nuts, especially for gaming. If you’re into VR, this is what you’ve been waiting for.

Their 10nm chips are incredibly dense, much more so than any so claimed 7nm.

The original 10nm scheduled by Intel was really really ambitious
compare to their original 14nm it was a 2.7x increase in density (this is huge), also the technology who where supposed to be used were quite advance with Cobalt interconnections for example
TSMC original 7nm node is less dense than 10nm intel original plan, I don’t know for the last iteration of TSMC process neither Intel’s 10nm real batch, but the original 10nm was really something

People don’t really understand this.

Physics applies equally to all. That's what makes it physics.

Yet somehow only Intel is stuck on 14nm+++++.

Again, don’t get caught up on the marketing, it’s all about performance. Intel’s 10nm are still denser than those claimed to be 7nm.

 

[deconstruct60]

....
The new H-series chips have the same base clock speeds as the 9th-generation chips in the current 16-inch MacBook Pro, but Turbo Boost speeds now exceed 5GHz for the first time. For example, the new highest-end Core i9 chip still clocks in at 2.4GHz, but its maximum Turbo Boost frequency has increased from 5.0GHz to 5.3GHz.
....

The very top end here doesn't seem likely for a MBP 16"


"... , the Core i9 is by default allowed to take 135 W across two cores, or 67.5 W per core. Even at 60W per core, you're looking at 50A of current per core... in a laptop. ... "

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135W in a MBP ? Probably not. For a couple of reasons.

1. With a Thunderbolt power connection .... can't get much over 100W
( The laptops will see this one will tend to have dedicated older power connectors. )


2. The current case really isn't designed for that.


Apple could set the firmware to clip the chip to the max power consumption range that the MBP 16" is designed for but .... is that really going to turn in significantly better performance than the current model? The "boost" here is largely just simply blowing even further past the 'nominal' TDP rating of the chip 45-65 far out into the iMac Pro / Mac Pro range just on mainly single threaded workloads.

Just don't see Apple jumping out of there seat to get this in to a MBP 16". If they had a "desktop replacement " Mac laptop or a super interested in gaming laptop ( where throw a relatively (for mobile) high TPD GPU in there also. ~100W ) then yeah. That isn't the prime target of the MBP market at this point.

Apple also seems to be skittish about Intel's Wi-Fi 6 ( not in MBA 2020 when mostly provisioned by default by the PCH chipset Apple had to buy). So don't see the PCH upgrade here either making them get super excited.

 

[smulji]

The $64,000 question is where are the “10th Gen” U-Series parts that Apple would typically use for the 13” MacBook Pro? I have not seen any rumors regarding 15w or 28w U-Series containing Iris Plus GPUs, either at 10nm or at 14nm+++. Actually the lack or rumors around these CPUs has been deafening.

I can only speculate that Apple is going to have to re-use the current 8th Gen U-Series CPUs in any new 14” MacBook Pro with scissors keys.

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[PickUrPoison]

Is this for the iMac, or are those ising desktop chips? I need a new iMac yesterday but refuse to buy anything without wifi 6

iMacs will use S-series which are rumored to be announced soon. iMac update could be June.

 

[Falhófnir]

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Well, we're already into Q2 and they've not yet been announced as far as I can see?

 

[needsomecoffee]

If Apple really cared at giving us the best, they would offer AMD as an option. Intel, though, is going to throw some amazing discounts at Apple to ensure we have to live with sub-standard CPUs, and Tim always puts increasing shareholder value far above any other considerations. Side-by-side (nearly) tells the story: "We’re stunned at the CPU’s impressive tour de force that defeats just about every Intel 8th- and 9th-gen laptop CPU we’ve ever seen." Maybe Intel's 10th gen makes up some of the gap, but given their history...

Link:

Ryzen 4000 Review: AMD’s 7nm Ryzen 9 offers game-changing performance for laptops

AMD Ryzen 4000 CPUs simply crush Intel's 9th-gen CPUs and offer game-changing performance for laptops.

www.pcworld.com

 

[darkslide29]

I have been waiting on more news for the rumored 14” MacBook Pro. Any ideas if this would be suitable or if they’d use a different CPU?

 

[Zdigital2015]

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Thanks for the heads up on that one. Basically, Intel can stick that one in the ARK a few days after Apple announces a new 14” MacBook Pro, if they are indeed going the 10th Gen 10nm route.

 

[cmaier]

What does the die size matter? They still have the beefiest CPUs on the market and these clock speeds are nuts, especially for gaming. If you’re into VR, this is what you’ve been waiting for.

Their 10nm chips are incredibly dense, much more so than any so claimed 7nm.





People don’t really understand this.

The 10nm design rules (including spacing) are identical to TSMC's 7nm design rules, so there is no difference in achievable density.

I don't know why you are talking about die size. Process nodes are not die size. 7nm and 10nm and 14nm do not refer to die size. And the reason the process node matters is that each successive process node allows for more transistors in a given area, which reduces wire lengths and hence switching capacitance. This has the effect of increasing transistor Ft, reducing slew rates, and allowing for higher clock speeds. The shrunk transistors also have lower gate capacitance, which further reduces switching capacitance. This also means that power consumption and heat can be reduced (all else being equal) because power is equal to the switching capacitance times the frequency times the voltage squared. Alternatively, power can be kept the same, but the frequency can be increased by the same amount that the capacitance is decreased.

Shrinking also means the voltage can be reduced (though often the engineers choose not to), which, in our power equation, is a squared effect.

The point being, that if you hand me a 14nm process year after year after year, there will rapidly come a point where I can't make the design run any faster, because the biggest hammer in increasing processor performance is to shrink the transistors and wires.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I have been waiting on more news for the rumored 14” MacBook Pro. Any ideas if this would be suitable or if they’d use a different CPU?

15w and/or 25w/28w TDP U-Series CPUs in the 13” MacBook Pro successor.

 

[deconstruct60]

Where is PCIX 4.0? Memory clock still under 3 GHZ. Oh lord!

AMD's Ryzen 4000 mobile options rollout out at this same time don't have PCI-e v4 either. In mobile solutions? Not there yet from anyone at scale. Probably won't be for a while. To much power loss to throw away that doesn't particular make sense on a battery limitations.

 

[BGPL]

Weird, my Lenovo Yoga C940 has a 10th gen Intel i7. I got it back in December.

Doesn't matter, there hasn't been a major CPU release since the 7th gen Kaby lake with HEVC hardware support. Apple has seen the writing on the wall and will go ARM and leave this garbage behind, thankfully. Intel has been king for far too long.

 

[Steve686]

The old chasing the next best thing debate.

Most incremental iterations aren't going to make my workflow or tasks monumentally easier/faster.

I buy, use, enjoy. Makes for a more sane experience.

 

[PickUrPoison]

If Apple really cared at giving us the best, they would offer AMD as an option. Intel, though, is going to throw some amazing discounts at Apple to ensure we have to live with sub-standard CPUs, and Tim always puts increasing shareholder value far above any other considerations. Side-by-side (nearly) tells the story: "We’re stunned at the CPU’s impressive tour de force that defeats just about every Intel 8th- and 9th-gen laptop CPU we’ve ever seen." Maybe Intel's 10th gen makes up some of the gap, but given their history...

Link:

Ryzen 4000 Review: AMD’s 7nm Ryzen 9 offers game-changing performance for laptops

AMD Ryzen 4000 CPUs simply crush Intel's 9th-gen CPUs and offer game-changing performance for laptops.

www.pcworld.com

If Apple’s going to A-series next year they don’t have any reason to use AMD parts.

 

[cmaier]

If Apple’s going to A-series next year they don’t have any reason to use AMD parts.

There are some whispers around silicon valley that their pro laptops will use an AMD APU as a graphics chip for their A-series machines, which would also allow running x86 stuff at the same time as arm stuff. I think that's probably wishful thinking.

 

[Zdigital2015]

A downclocked 10th gen H-series chip to 35W in the new 14-inch MBP would be fantastic - Unfortunately, I presume they will just stick with the 28W to create enough distinction between the 14 and 16 inches. I'm desperate for a new machine...

Oh yes, a downclocked H-Series CPU in a 14” MacBook Pro would be wonderful up to the point that do anything GPU intensive and the PoS UHD Graphics Intel put in the thing rears its ugly head and your apps are left gasping for Air.

 

[Mr_Pickles_666]

To be honest I think that Apple has pushed their heat dissipation technology to the limit with the current 16 inch Macbook Pro. If Apple was to release any new laptops they would have to increase the size of the chassis and put in better cooling to support these new cpus. Which we all know that apple is not going to change their computer footprint after having just changed it with the release of the 16 inch Macbook from the smaller 15 inch Macbook.

 

[ChromeCrescendo]

Wait, these chips won't be available until October? I feel like that should have been mentioned in the article if so...

That is merely my speculation that Apple will not refresh the MBP 16" with the 10th Gen until October when they are supposedly announcing MBP with mini-LED
[automerge]1585843974[/automerge]

On their own these chips barely qualify as an update. The potential for WiFi 6 might be something you're interested in, if you're going to keep the machine a long time, but Apple might well choose not to update with these chips until that rumoured mini LED update in the last quarter.

For the most part, I will be using it connected via ethernet (although, I think I need 2 dongles for that)

 

[carlos700]

The very top end here doesn't seem likely for a MBP 16"

They are already using the 9th gen version which also could consume just as much at max. Just like how the 9900K could consume 250W+ in the 27" iMac. Apple just limits it. The 10980HK is a direct replacement for the 9980HK currently used by the 16-inch MBP

 

[Falhófnir]

There are some whispers around silicon valley that their pro laptops will use an AMD APU as a graphics chip for their A-series machines, which would also allow running x86 stuff at the same time as arm stuff. I think that's probably wishful thinking.

Doing that would likely take a lot of the impetus away from developers to migrate their Apps, leaving the transition in a sort of half and half limbo - what I expect Apple will be keen to avoid. If they're doing it, they need to make it clear it's happening in a given timeframe, and that's how long developers have to get their software compliant...

 

[Sunshower]

Oh yes, a downclocked H-Series CPU in a 14” MacBook Pro would be wonderful up to the point that do anything GPU intensive and the PoS UHD Graphics Intel put in the thing rears its ugly head and your apps are left gasping for Air.

True - In this dream 35W 14-inch MBP I'd also bung in a 5300M DGPU - It would be an expensive, hot, throttling computer with poor battery life though...one can dream!

 

[carlos700]

The 5300M is 55-watts but I suspect AMD would be happy to make Apple a lower power one. They seem to be willing to make custom parts for just about anyone. But I have a strong feeling the 14" is just going to be a higher clocked MacBook Air. Ice Lake at 28W with Iris Plus.