If you’ve been itching to blow your PC spending budget on Intel’s new Broadwell chips, you’ll have to wait a little while longer. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said that they’ll be released sometime around the holiday season which, depending on what month of the year you’re talking about, can be anywhere from 6 – 7 months away from now.
“I can guarantee for holiday, and not at the last second of holiday,” Krzanich said when speaking with Reuters at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, California this past weekend. “Back to school – that’s a tight one. Back to school you have to really have it on-shelf in July, August. That’s going to be tough.”
Intel’s upcoming Broadwell chips are notable, not just because they represent an obvious upgrade over current-generation chips, but also because they’ll be based on Haswell architecture while manufactured using a 14nm process.
Meanwhile, Intel’s latest chips are built using a 22nm process. The new chips will also sport more graphics execution capabilities. Perhaps most notable of all are Intel’s efficiency claims regarding Broadwell. The company says that they’ll improve battery life by at least 30 percent, which will simultaneously permit OEMs to build fan-less computing devices which also last longer. The lack of fans would allow for manufacturers to make slimmer and lighter computers, thereby making them even more portable than ever.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Broadwell can measure up with Intel’s claims, but we’ll have to wait until late this year (or early next year) to see if they do. However, we’ll likely learn more about Broadwell either during Computex next month, or Intel’s Developer Forum, which will be held in September.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.
