Hands-on with Intel’s new ultrabook-friendly Ivy Bridge CPUs
The first batch of Intel’s third-generation Core-i-series processors(also known by the code name Ivy Bridge) arrived in late April. But, those initial chips only covered the very high end of the spectrum, being quad-core Core i7 CPUs destined for high-end gaming and multimedia laptops.
While more mainstream Ivy Bridge CPUs have been expected for some time, Intel has now officially revealed new details of the Core i5 and low-voltage Core i7 chips. We’ve been testing systems with some of the new processors, most notably the 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U. This is a low-voltage mobile processor specifically targeted at ultrabooks, a category both Intel and PC makers are trying to expand.
The ultrabook, for the uninitiated, is a trademarked Intel marketing term that represents a list of hardware and software requirements for ultrathin laptops. There are specific rules for components, system height, screen size, and other factors, but the basic thrust is to create premium laptops that rival Apple’s MacBook Air.
To date, we’ve liked a lot of the ultrabook hardware we’ve seen, but current models are all using second-generation Intel Core i-series CPUs, so they feel a bit dated now that we’ve been talking about Ivy Bridge for so long.
With the Core i5-3427U and other new dual-core CPUs, many of the same benefits we’ve seen in massive gaming systems such as the Origin Eon 17-S and Maingear EX-L 15 can now trickle down to superslim, highly portable laptops.
One of the biggest of those advantages is even more relevant for smaller laptops. Intel’s new HD 4000 graphics replaces the previous HD 3000 version, and the company promises that you’ll be able to play current high-end PC games without needing a separate Nvidia or AMD GPU. On the gaming rigs we’ve previously tested, that was mostly a moot point, as those laptops have powerful discrete graphics cards already.
On an ultrabook or other mainstream laptop without a separate GPU, HD 4000 becomes much more valuable. The ability to play more than the most basic PC games will help ultrabooks and other mainstream laptops become more full-fledged entertainment devices.
Intel provided a sample Core i5-3427U ultrabook with HD 4000 graphics for testing. We’ve run gaming tests on that system, several of the earlier quad-core Core i7 Ivy Bridge laptops, and a handful of other new dual-core Intel third-generation Core-i-series laptops that will be announced in the near future.
The Intel sample ultrabook ran Street Fighter IV at its native 1,600×900-pixel resolution at 21.4 frames per second. Other Ivy Bridge systems ran the same test at up to 33 frames per second with the help of powerful quad-core CPUs. Those may not sound like amazing frame rates, but previous second-generation Core i5 laptops with Intel’s HD 3000 graphics usually ran the same test at about 13 frames per second.
Newer games, such as Skyrim or Diablo III, ran at playable, if not impressive rates, as long as detail levels were kept to lower settings. This isn’t going to be a serious gamer’s main way to play, but it’s fine for travel or occasional dungeon runs. You can read a more in-depth discussion of Intel’s HD 4000 graphics here.
Battery life gets less of a boost, but the second-generation Core i-series platform was such a big step forward for battery life that there’s not as much headroom to make gains. Our Intel-provided generic 13-inch ultrabook ran for 5 hours and 6 minutes on our video playback battery drain test. That’s an excellent score for a 13-inch laptop, and hopefully indicative of what we’ll see in future ultrabooks. Ivy Bridge systems with standard voltage and/or Core i7 CPUs have run for an hour or two less in our tests, but those have generally been very good as well.
The new Intel third-generation CPUs are as follows. A «U» designation indicates low-voltage, «M» means standard voltage. The former is for ultrabooks and other superslim laptops; the standard chips will end up in regular midsize laptops.
Core i7
i7-3667U, i7-3517U, i7-3520M
Core i5
i5-3427U, i5-3317U, i5-3360M, i5-3320M, i5-3210M.
The list of previously released quad-core Core i7 processors can be found here.
Stay tuned for full reviews of laptops using these new CPUs starting today, with the Lenovo ThinkPad X230, and continuing through the coming weeks.
Below are benchmark results comparing several laptops with new dual-core Ivy Bridge CPUs, contrasted with the Lenovo IdeaPad Y480, which has one of the Ivy Bridge quad-core Core i7 CPUs released several weeks ago.
Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480
325
Lenovo Thinkpad X230
512
Intel Ultrabook (Whitebox)
641
Adobe Photoshop CS5 image-processing test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480
151
Lenovo Thinkpad X230
167
Intel Ultrabook (Whitebox)
203
Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Lenovo Thinkpad X230
100
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480
100
Intel Ultrabook (Whitebox)
130
Video playback battery drain test (in minutes)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Lenovo Thinkpad X230
364
Intel Ultrabook (Whitebox)
306
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480
231
Annual energy consumption cost
Intel Ultrabook (Whitebox)
$3.
56
Lenovo Thinkpad X230
$3.57
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480
$5.29
System configurations
Asus Zenbook UX32V
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 620M + 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 500GB Hitachi 5400rpm
Intel Ultrabook (Whitebox)
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 64MB(Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 240GB Intel SSD
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 640M LE + 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 4000; 750GB Western Digital 5400rpm
Lenovo Thinkpad X230
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.6GHz Intel Core i5-3320M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 64MB (Shared) Intel HD 4000; 320GB Hitachi 7200rpm
Ivy Bridge Ultrabook Battery Life and Thermals
by Jarred Waltonon May 31, 2012 12:01 AM EST
- Posted in
- Laptops
- CPUs
- Intel
- Ivy Bridge
- Ultrabook
64 Comments
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64 Comments
Intel Dual-Core Mobile Ivy Bridge Launch and i5-3427U Ultrabook PreviewMeet the Second Generation UltrabookIvy Bridge Ultrabook General PerformanceIvy Bridge Ultrabook Quick Sync and 3DMark PerformanceIvy Bridge Ultrabook Gaming PerformanceIvy Bridge Ultrabook Battery Life and ThermalsConclusion: A Good Step Forward for Ultrabooks
Ivy Bridge Ultrabook Battery Life and Thermals
So far, we’ve seen pretty much what we expected from Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks: moderately to slightly faster CPU performance compared to the first generation Ultrabooks, and a bigger step up in graphics performance.
This matches up quite well with our experience of quad-core Ivy Bridge and the ASUS N56VM, but where things took a turn for the worse was in battery life. Many expected Ivy Bridge to be a significant step forward for laptop battery life, but at least on the N56VM we didn’t see that. What about ULV Ivy Bridge? Is it better, the same, or worse? Check out our results:
In terms of pure battery life, the Ivy Bridge prototype is good for nearly six hours of movie playback, close to eight hours of Internet surfing, and over 8.5 hours of idle time. It comes close to the top of our charts, though we could point out that the similar ASUS UX31E Sandy Bridge Ultrabook bests it in every category. Then again, ASUS has done very well in battery life comparisons for most of their laptops. Compared to the Acer S3, the IVB Ultrabook comes out ahead in Internet and behind in the other two disciplines; it does better against the Toshiba Portege Z830, Dell XPS 13, HP Folio 13, and matches or exceeds the Acer M3.
Overall, given the improved performance, battery life looks to be similar or slightly better than Sandy Bridge Ultrabooks, which is quite acceptable.
We did run another battery life test looping 3DMark06 with the Balanced power profile and the IGP set to Balanced performance. Under those conditions, the PUB-RD Ultrabook lasted 107 minutes, which isn’t bad for that punishing workload.
As for thermals, this isn’t a production Ultrabook so these results aren’t particularly useful. Still, we ran our usual CPU+GPU stress test and here’s the HWMonitor screen capture:
Thermals are reasonable under load at 79/80C, and most of that heat is right in the back-middle section of the chassis, so you’re not as apt to notice if you’ve got it resting on your lap. Along with the heat, let’s quickly discuss acoustics.
The IVB Ultrabook is pretty much silent and registers well under the noise floor of our testing equipment during idle/light use, though the fan may occasionally spin up.