Intel (INTC) is hitting CES 2023 with some serious swagger, announcing a new line of mobile processors including what it says is the world’s fastest chip for a laptop. The company’s 13th-generation Intel Core chips range from the high-end HX series to the entry-level N series, and will land in consumer laptops from a slew of manufacturers later this year.
At the top of the spectrum is Intel’s Core i9-13980HX chip. Packing a whopping 24 cores, a first for a laptop, including 8 performance cores for heavy duty tasks like gaming and 14 efficiency cores for mundane activities like web browsing, the top of the line HX can reach peak speeds of 5.6GHz.
That’s wildly fast for a processor, and, in most cases, unnecessary for the large majority of consumers. Of course, that’s only the chip’s performance cores and only when pushed to their limits. Otherwise, they’ll run at 2.2GHz. To put that in perspective, Apple’s (AAPL) M1 Max, the company’s most powerful chip, reaches clock speeds of 3.2GHz, according to Anandtech.
Outside of its high speeds, the HX is compatible with up to 128GB of RAM, an absurd number that gamers and professionals in need of hardcore performance will love to see. Don’t expect laptops equipped with the HX chip to be cheap, though. These processors will end up in only the priciest laptops around.