On top of its formal unveiling of the fast seventh-generation Core Kaby Lake CPUs, Intel has also quietly unveiled its Apollo Lake CPUs, the company's next batch of budget chips.
Intel Apollo Lake Low-Cost Processor
According to Engadget, the Apollo Lake processors are meant for low-end hardware. The new low-cost Intel chips are built on a 14 nanometer manufacturing process. They will replace the last batch of Intel Pentium and Celeron processors.
Intel's Core CPUs are usually found in mid-range and high-end devices. However, the Apollo Lake processors will be the consumer flag bearer for this generation of Intel Atom processors and they will be used in budget desktops, laptops, 2-in-1s, netbooks and other low-cost devices that do not require intensive computer power and high performance.
Anandtech reports the details about the new Apollo Lake CPUs, explaining that the chipsets are built off of Goldmont, the latest generation of Intel's Atom-derived line of CPU cores. The Apollo Lake CPUs are the successor to Braswell. Same as their predecessors, the Apollo Lake processors are build in a small die SoC designed to slot in below the Core architecture chips.
Even if they received just a quit launch from Intel, the Apollo Lake processors are still an important part of the company's chip lineup. The newly launched budget CPU will enable Intel to better compete with non-traditional devices based around ARM SoCs and reach cheaper markets.
Apollo Lake comes with significant changes relative to Intel's last generation Braswell Pentium, along with the various architectural enhancements. For instance, the GPU EU count has been increased to 18 EUs from 16 EUs found in the previous generation Braswell chips. Intel has also increased the number of PCIe 2.0 lanes for peripherals from four lanes to six. The TDP has been increased by 54 percent, from 6.5W to 10W, while CPU clock speeds have not changed.
