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Apple got some custom chips from Intel again. https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/ ==== 1.1GHz dual-core Intel C
by chx 7y ago
Apple got some custom chips from Intel again.
https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/
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1.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i3, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz, with 4MB L3 cache
Configurable to 1.1GHz quad-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz, with 6MB L3 cache; or 1.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, with 8MB L3 cache
8GB of 3733MHz LPDDR4X onboard memory
Intel Iris Plus Graphics
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https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/186968/amber-lake-y.html https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codenam... this matches the frequency cadence but it's LPDDR3 and Intel GT graphics.
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codename/74979/ice-lake.html https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/codenam... the fourth digit is the power tier and the fastest https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197120/intel-core-i7-1060g7-processor-8m-cache-up-to-3-80-ghz.html https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197120/... is only 1GHz. So if this theory were true, Intel would need to take the cream of the by and large broken 10nm process Ice Lake Y CPUs on the i5 Y and i7 Y tiers and give them to Apple.
The previous one ran an i5-8210Y which was also Apple specific 23% higher clocked version vs the more common i5-8200Y but that was only one, this time it would need two, both the i5 and i7 CPUs are special but the i3 seems to be the run-of-the-mill version. Note how weird the cadence is because usually the frequency drops with the number of cores. However, the Turbo Boost is the same 3.8 GHz which is way too low for the 10th gen Amber Lake Y CPUs.
Also, at first I thought the video resolutions weird but what's going on here is that there is a single USB C output and even with Thunderbolt, that's only a 40Gbps bus. So the ICL-Y DP 1.4 support is somewhat less useful here. If there would be two USB C outputs, two 5K monitors could be driven easily, for example. Which the previous generation Intel CPUs couldn't because to drive an 5K from DP 1.2 the monitor eats up two display outputs even if physically that's delivered on a single Thunderbolt cable.
- hmottestad 7y agoLPDDR4X is one of the key features here.
- anentropic 7y agoanyone know which model of Iris Plus graphics it has?
- qayxc 7y agoMy best guess is that they are using an i3-1000G4 for the base model. The i5 option could be an i5-1035G4 with a cTDP of 12W or even an i5-1030G7 with a cTDP-up of 12W and an increased base clock. The description of the i7 matches an i7-1060G7 at 9W TDP. HTH
- anentropic 7y agoAh right, the Iris model goes with the CPU model "Configurable to 1.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz, with 8MB L3 cache" and "3733MHz LPDDR4X onboard memory" so it's probably one of these: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=197120,196597 https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?pro... which means it's Iris Plus "G7" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Graphics_Technology#Generation_eleven_based https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Graphics_Technology#Gene... ...which appears to be the fastest integrated GPU Intel have done yet, according to the GFLOPS on wikipedia above
- chx 7y agoThey won't cTDP-up, they will get custom chips that keep the 9W and has higher frequency.
- weystrom 7y agoThey better fix the cooling system though, last year Air had a passive system without a heatpipe between the CPU and system fan and people complained. TDP seems to be a bit higher here, so let's see if they've managed to do something better than just blowing air (heh) into the chassis.
- qayxc 7y agoHold up! Aren't Apple just using 10th gen Ice Lake CPUs? https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197123/intel-core-i3-1000g4-processor-4m-cache-up-to-3-20-ghz.html https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197123/... Ticks all the boxes as far as I can tell.
- cmurphycode 7y agoThe i3 you linked matched. But for the i7 model, apple claims 1.2/3.8 and I can't see a match for that. For the i5, they claim 1.1/3.5 which could be a match for https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197119/intel-core-i5-1030g7-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-50-ghz.html https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/197119/... with the "configurable TDP" of 1.1 instead of base 800 MHZ. If anyone can solve this mystery, it would be great to compare to other laptops like the Surface Pro, whose i7 is "Quad-core 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1065G7 Processor"(1.3 / 3.9)
- ksec 7y agoWhy is this a mystery? It is just a different bin.
- thedance 7y agoIntel will make you whatever you want if you order 100k+ of them.