At IFA Berlin 2024, Intel announced the second generation of its Core Ultra laptops. While the first generation was notable for introducing neural processing units (NPUs), the new Lunar Lake series offers better efficiency, more power, and include Microsoft’s Copilot+ standard. For context, the Copilot+ standard requires PCs to have at least 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD/UFS storage, and an NPU capable of at least 40 TOPS (trillion operations per second).
The Intel Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake) laptops will be available globally starting September 24. These devices are already up for pre-order in India through Amazon, Croma, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, and Vijay Sales. You’ll be able to choose from a variety of brands, including Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, and more. As per the company, over 80 laptop models from more than 20 OEMs will feature Lunar Lake processors in select markets.
I’m most impressed by the battery life figures claimed by Intel. According to the company, its new chips can deliver up to 20 hours of battery life—unheard of for Intel-powered laptops. This is one of the reasons I stick to the M2 MacBook Air, despite more productive machines like the Asus Zenbook Duo existing in the Windows segment.
The Intel Core Ultra 200V is said to deliver up to 120 TOPS (tera operations per second) across the CPU, GPU, and NPU, with the NPU alone providing 47 TOPS of computing power for AI workloads. In comparison, the new Snapdragon X Elite chips can reach up to 45 TOPS.
Intel also claims that its Core Ultra 200V processors are up to 50% more power-efficient than the previous generation. These processors are equipped with eight CPU cores and up to eight GPU cores. The CPU cores include four Lion Cove performance cores and four Skymont efficiency cores. Except for the Core Ultra 9 288V, other Core Ultra 200V processors have a default 17W TDP.
The Core Ultra 5 processors feature seven GPU cores, while the Core Ultra 7 and Ultra 9 CPUs have eight GPU cores. These are the first processors to feature Intel’s new Xe2 graphics microarchitecture, which reportedly offers 30% better graphics performance than the Snapdragon X Elite chipset and is 16% faster than AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 370HX.
The Intel Core Ultra 200V processors support up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM, connectivity for up to three 4K monitors, and Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 (with LE Audio). Lunar Lake-powered PCs can also include up to three Thunderbolt 4 ports, six USB 2.0 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports.
These are lofty claims that will soon be put to the test when the new laptops go on sale in 10 days. It’ll be interesting to see how they stack up against the competition.
