In a typical ‘premium first’ move, Intel have announced 4 new 3rd generation Core processors aimed at Ultrabooks and other highly mobile PCs.
It’s easy to see which devices are going to be best for gaming and video work – the i5-3317U runs a slightly lower max GPU clock. All have a 17W nominal TDP although we already know that this TDP can be programmed up or down for design purposes.
The official list matches the one we published last week…
A new Intel Ultrabook promo video has just gone up – a pre-cursor to the launch of the 2nd-generation of Ultrabooks at Computex in under a week.
Update: Intel has also posted a Sneak Peak article.
The ASUS Zenbook Prime UX32VD looks nice, performs well, could be a casual gamer’s dream!
We’re surprised that so many 2nd-Generation ASUS Ultrabooks have found their way into the hands of reviewers. Considering the Ivy Bridge processors inside them are under NDA you would think that Intel could have kept a tighter control. Instead we’re getting reviews that don’t list CPU part numbers or CPU/GPU performance figures. There will be a huge number of updates on June 5th! Despite that, the UX32VD impresses and because the GT640M GT620M GPU isn’t under NDA, you can see some impressive gaming results.
Brazilian manufacturer CCE Info has just launched a 2nd-Gen Ultrabook. It will be running an Ivy Bridge Core i7 CPU and offer a DVD writer in a 20mm package. From the side it looks pretty unique. From the other angles, you might be reminded of another notebook though.
Engadget China have the first pics of the new, Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks from Asus. As tipped by us in Feb, the two models include full-HD displays. There’s a backlit keyboard too. Asus are calling the new Zenbook the Zenbook Prime and it’s tipped for June availability.
The report doesn’t specifically mention the UX31A and UX21A but given previous reports and matching specifications, I’ll go out on a limb and say they’re one and the same. The article doesn’t mention Ivy Bridge either but do we really need to consider Sandy Bridge as a possibility here? No.
We’ve been hearing about 23rd April availability of Ivy Bridge for a while now but what does that mean and what does it mean for Ultrabooks? What’s clear is that there’s still some time to go before anyone is able to buy a 2nd-gen Ultrabook. Our estimate for the earliest models is now mid-June.
There’s two things to consider. ‘Availability’ in this case means 1st shipping of the Ivy Bridge CPUs. Arrival at manufacturers production facilities comes some days after that and then manufacturers can ramp up their production lines for the first major run. Testing and shipping from the production facility and then testing by distributors and shelf availability will take 2-3 weeks after that, for the first-in-line and ready-to-go manufacturers. We’re estimating mid-May for the first Ivy Bridge laptops. But not Ultrabooks.
Update: Paul Otellini just announced “The first Ivy Bridge chips we’re shipping are quad cores” in the Intel earnings conference call this evening. (via)
We’re hearing that the 2-core, high-end processors used in Ultrabooks won’t start production until mid-May which means you won’t see the first Ultrabooks in the hands until mid-June. At that point availability will still be limited and we expect only one or two manufacturers to be able to hit that availability date. After that, other manufacturer products will start to roll in. Here’s how we think it will pan out from now until the end of the year…
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