Intel Fills Out 13th Generation

Intel revealed more of its 13th Core generation, codenamed Raptor Lake. Four mobile families launched along with more desktop models. The company also updated its N-series processors.

Bryon Moyer

Intel’s Raptor Lake architecture can now drive high-performance notebooks as well as midrange desktop PCs. And, for lower performance and cost, a separate set of updated Alder Lake chips addresses Chromebooks and other entry-level systems.

The 13th Core generation blends Raptor Cove “performance” cores (P cores) with Gracemont “efficiency” cores (E cores) for a broad range of speeds, power levels, and prices. The HX-series targets mobile gaming with the family’s highest performance: 55W. The H-series, P-series, and U-series are lower-power mobile designs. Laptops with these chips will start appearing this quarter. Meanwhile, Intel revealed 16 new desktop models that are available now. An updated N-series, packing only Gracemont cores, can drive new budget products.

The laptop market has dropped from its Covid-era level, and we expect it to continue falling into 2023. We forecast a market value of $159 billion in 2022 and $164 billion in 2027, representing a 0.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). But the mid-Covid 2021 number was $174 billion, which makes the CAGR slightly negative for the 2021–2027 period.

Raptor Lake stepped in as a low-effort new family when the Meteor Lake architecture suffered delays. It upgrades the 12th-generation products that derive from Alder Lake. Manufactured in the Intel 7 process, the enthusiast desktop units arrived last fall. The latest release addresses mobile computing and fills out the desktop family.

The new Alder Lake N-series has no P-cores, relying solely on four or eight Gracemont E-cores for the lower-cost entry models the company is branding either as Core i3 or as “Intel Processors”. It upgrades the prior Jasper Lake devices, raising the clock speed to 3.8GHz and the TDP to 15W. Computing performance grew by 70%, while graphics speeds more than doubled over the prior generation.