Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPU: FHD gaming on ultra thin laptops now possible with Iris Xe graphics

Intel has officially launched its 11th Gen laptop-grade processors, code-named Tiger Lake. The new processors are touted as the “best processor for thin-and-light” laptops and will feature integrated Iris Xe graphics as well as support for WiFi 6 and Thunderbolt 4.

The 11th Gen processors are built on Intel’s 10nm node, which is similar to its current 10th Gen Ice Lake models. However, not everything is the same. Intel’s latest chips leverage on its new Super Fin process technology that is claimed to offer enhanced performance while demanding less power.

Intel said it is launching nine new 11th Gen designs for both its U-series (now referred to as UP3) and Y-series chips (UP4). They will be led by the Core i7-1185G7 that offers base speeds of 3.0GHz, a maximum single-core turbo boost up to 4.8GHz and a maximum all-core boost of up to 4.3GHz. It is also set to feature the most powerful version of Intel’s Xe integrated graphics with 96 CUs and a maximum graphics speed of 1.35GHz.

Here’s the full list of Intel’s 11th Gen line up:

The main highlight of the new Tiger Lake chips are their new Iris Xe graphics that Intel promises will offer a significant upgrade in terms of graphical performance of its previous generation Iris Plus solution.

The difference was quite clear during a demonstration by Intel which showed a new 11th Gen chip outputting better performance than an older 10th Gen chip paired with an Nvidia MX350 GPU. The performance boost offered by Intel means that modern AAA games like Borderlands 3, Far Cry New Dawn and Hitman 2 are finally playable at 1080p resolution on thin-and-light laptops.

Beyond games, Intel also declared the improved graphical performance from the 11th Gen processors should also trickle down to other tasks like photo and video editing. The company said the new chips would deliver up to 2.7x faster real-world photo editing and up to 2x real-world video editing versus competing products. They would also have support for 8K HDR displays and up to four simultaneous 4K HDR displays.

It should be noted that Intel’s fancy new Iris Xe graphics will only be available on its new Core i5 or i7 chips. The Core i3 models, meanwhile, are only set to get Intel UHD Graphics.

Another new feature in the 11th Gen processors is the built-in AI engine that can perform tasks like filtering out ambient noise and blurring the background during video calls. Tiger Lake is also set to support a variety of new I/O standards out of the box. This includes Thunderbolt 4, USB4, DDR5 RAM at up to 5400MHz and PCIe Gen 4.0.

Intel also debuted a new platform brand, dubbed “Intel Evo”. Under this label, laptops are supposed to be guaranteed to offer up to nine hours of “real world” usage on a single charge on systems with FHD displays, fast charging (offering four hours of use with a 30-minute charge), WiFi 6 and Thunderbolt 4 and the ability for the system to wake in less than a second. Intel said there should be more than 20 Evo-verified designs that would be available later in the year.

During the launch, Intel showcased a variety of laptops from Dell, Acer, Asus, Microsoft, Samsung, HP, MSI, Razer, Lenovo and others. The company promised to have over 150 designs running on its new 11th Gen Intel Core processors. Among them is the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex 5G, refreshed versions of Acer’s Swift 5 as well as new Asus ZenBooks.

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