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Intel's Alder Lake-N processors have proven popular with budget laptop, Chromebook, and mini PC makers since they first debuted nearly two years ago. These chips are basically what you get if you take a 12th-gen Intel Core processor and equip it with entry-level integrated graphics and up to eight Efficiency cores, but no Performance cores.

The resulting processors may not be speed demons, but they're surprisingly adequate for many basic computing tasks, media playback, and even some light gaming. Now Intel is preparing to expand the lineup with four new chips that are… a little faster. Maybe.

Image via AceMagic / Amazon

Intel hasn't officially confirmed that it has any new Alder Lake-N processors on the way, but details started leaking this fall when companies like Asus started to introduce mini PCs powered by some of the new chips.

Since then we've seen a bunch of mini PCs hit the streets with a processor that Intel has yet to actually announce: the Intel Processor N150 chip with 4 cores, 4 threads, and a 6 watt TDP. This processor is basically a modest spec bump over the Intel N100, with support for CPU frequencies that are up to 200 MHz higher and GPU speeds up to 250 MHz higher.

In terms of real-world performance, it's unclear if you'll notice any real improvement. Early reviews suggest you won't, but it's worth keeping in mind that Intel hasn't even acknowledged this processor exists yet, so we could see performance improvements through future software updates.

We also haven't seen any real-world tests of the other new chips Intel is launching. Leaks suggest there will also be Intel Core N250, Core 3 N350, and Core 3 N355 processors. And now @jaykihn0 has shared even more details about these upcoming processors, showing how they compare with their predecessors.

All of the new chips are expected to feature the same Gracemont CPU architecture and Intel UHD graphics as Alder Lake-N chips, but they're expected to use the code-name Twin Lake (or TWL) rather than Alder Lake-N, even though they're remarkably similar.

So what's new? It looks like we can expect slightly higher CPU and graphics frequencies across the board.

Chip Cores Threads Base / Boost freq L3 cache GPU Power *Core 3 N355  8 8 3 GHz / 3.9 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (32EU / up to 1.35 GHz) 15W Core i3-N305 8 8 Up to 3.8 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (32EU / up to 1.25 GHz) 15W Intel Processor N97 4 4 Up to 3.6 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (24EU / up to 1.2 GHz) 12W Intel Processor N95 4 4 Up to 3.4 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (16EU / up to 1.2 GHz) 15W *Core 3 350  8 8 2.6 GHz / 3.9 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (16EU / up to 1.35 GHz) 7W Core i3-N300 8 8 Up to 3.8 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (16EU / up to 1.25 GHz) 7W *N250  4 4 3.2 GHz / 3.8 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (32EU / up to 1.25 GHz) 6W Intel Processor N200 4 4 Up to 3.7 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (32EU / up to 750 MHz) 6W *N150  4 4 2.9 GHz / 3.6 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (24EU / up to 1 GHz) 6W Intel Processor N100 4 4 Up to 3.4 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (24EU / up to 750 MHz) 6W Intel Processor N50 2 2 Up to 3.4 GHz 6MB Intel UHD (16EU / up to 750 MHz) 6W *Twin Lake chips are marked in bold with an asterisk.

While it would have been nice to see Intel push the boundary a bit further with its next-gen chips for budget computers, Alder Lake-N processors are still a pretty strong option for cheap, low-power computers nearly two years after they first launched. So I'm not too mad to see Intel expanding its offerings in this space… although given the results of early tests on the Intel N150, I can't help but wonder if the new chips will actually bring anything new to the table of releasing new processors with higher clock speeds has more to do with marketing than performance.

Odds are that we won't have long to wait for an official announcement – Intel has a CES 2025 keynote scheduled for Monday, January 6, 2025.

via Tom's Hardware

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