Today Intel has officially announced their 7th generation Kaby Lake processors. The new line is a revamp of the previous 14nm Skylake CPUs, and will come with efficiency and power improvements.
Kaby Lake is designed to bridge the gap until the 2017 release of the 10nm Cannonlake. According to Intel, it’s also the first chip that can deliver true 4K entertainment.
4K Capability and Gaming
The processors have been “built for the immersive internet,” which is the chip maker’s fancy term for CPUs than can run some modern games and deliver Ultra HD:
“With new computers powered by 7th Gen Intel Core, TV and movie fans will have access to premium 4K UHD content streaming from studios like Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and providers like Fandango,” Says Intel’s vice president and general manager Navin Shenoy. This is just the beginning as we see 4K UHD content go mainstream over time. We’re excited about some additional content announcements in the next few months, so stay tuned.”
Allegedly the chip can play 4K video for up to 9.5 hours. Shenoy also makes comparisons to the computers of five years ago. In particular:
- Gamers will see a threefold improvement in graphics
- Users have the power to create, edit and share their own 4K UHD and 360-degree clips up to 15 times faster.
The manufacturing team has also made significant improvements over the past year. The 7th Gen Intel Core uses its 14nm+ technology to boost productivity performance by 12 percent and web performance by 19 percent.
The company is expecting over a hundred different 2-in-1s and laptops to ship with the CPU, starting in September and going through the holiday season. They claim some of these are thinner than a phone but still give desktop level performance.
Microsoft Support and Kaby Lake
Microsoft extended its support for Skylake processors this month, but has remained resolute on one thing. Kaby Lake processors will get support exclusively on Windows 10.
While 6th Gen Intel Core systems have been extended for up to five years, the company will not support 7th Gen CPUs from AMD or Intel on any other OS. This likely won’t be much of an issue for most, as the new AIOs will almost certainly come with Windows 10 pre-installed.
You can read all the details about that here.