After a pair of leaks revealed most of the details about Intel’s upcoming Skylake processor lineup, the company today itself has teased a few of the features of the upcoming processors. While Intel says launch details will be revealed in a couple of weeks, some information was teased during an Intel Developer Forum presentation today, including details about support for 4K displays.
According to PCWorld, Intel’s Skylake CPUs include integrated fixed-function support of 4K video processing, which means that there are dedicated transistors with the sole job of handling 4K playback. Skylake processors will be capable of driving three 4K displays at 60Hz, which is a significant improvement over last year’s Broadwell processors, which could power a single 60Hz 4K display.
Other features of Intel’s Skylake processors include something called EDRAM+, which builds upon Intel’s EDRAM feature that it has been using since 2013. EDRAM+ is capable of caching information for the CPU, whereas previously DRAM only cached for the GPU. This should greatly improve performance across the board for the processors.
The processors also support a new feature called Speed Shift, which is aimed at improving battery life by allowing the CPU to intelligently change its power state. Earlier leaks pegged the Skylake-U chips as offering up to 1.4 hours longer battery life with a 30% increase in battery life across the board.
Intel is expected to officially announce all of the details regarding its Skylake processors within the next two weeks, which means we should see devices begin shipping later this year.
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do you know when can we expect macbook pros to be refreshed with skylake processors?
It has been 92 days since they were updated and the average is 214 days between updates. If Apple releases new Cinema Displays the MacBook Pros might get an update this fall. I think it is more likely they get update in The spring or WWDC with a refreshed design.
Eh, I don’t know if I should upgrade my 2012 non retina MBP with more RAM and SSD and wait for the new MBPr to show up or sell my MBP and buy current MBPr. I don’t want to buy a brand new computer and see it being refreshed after two or three months.
Should finally see new Cinema Displays along side updated Mac’s. I hope this means the 5K and 4K imac’s gain target mode.