HP Spectre 13, Spectre x360 13 Laptops With 8th Generation Intel Processors Launched

Building on the success of its premium consumer lineup of Spectre laptops, HP on Wednesday unveiled the next generation HP Spectre 13 and HP Spectre x360 13 laptops, featuring the latest 8th Generation Intel processors.

Being touted as the world’s thinnest touch laptop, HP Spectre 13 features micro-edge bezels with Corning Gorilla Glass, delivering up to 4K display resolution. Equipped with full-size edge-to-edge backlit keyboard, the laptop comes with 16GB LPDDR3 memory and up to 1TB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD) and provides up to 11.5 hours of battery life along with HP Fast Charge technology.

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Microsoft Surface Book 2 With Eighth Generation Intel Core Processors Launched: Price, Specifications

Highlights Microsoft has launched the Surface Book 2 hybrid laptop It comes in some variants that have eighth generation Intel Core i7 CPU There is no word on when Microsoft will bring the laptop to India

Alongside making the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update available to the general public on Wednesday, Microsoft also announced the Surface Book 2, the successor to the Surface Book it had launched two years ago. The Surface Book 2, which doubles as a tablet, packs in Intel’s eighth generation Core i7 processors (there are variants with seventh-generation Core i5 processor as well) and is the “most powerful” Surface device yet, the company said.

The Surface Book 2 is a result of Microsoft managing to integrate the silicon (hardware) with the software in a more cohesive way, the company said. It is “powerful enough” to fuel the next wave of computing, the company claims. Whether you want to dapple with mixed reality, or with artificial intelligence, or play immersive games, the Surface Book 2 will be able to handle that. It is a hybrid laptop that “empowers the designers, developers, artists, and scientists to imagine and build without limits and without compromises. To achieve more,” the company writes.

As for the specifications, the Surface Book 2 comes in two sizes: one with a 13.5-inch display, the other with a 15-inch screen. In total, there are seven different variants of the Surface Book 2, offering different processor, RAM and screen sizes. The configurations are: 13.5-inch, 256GB SSD, and Intel Core i5 processor; 13.5-inch, 256GB, Intel Core i7; 13.5-inch, 512GB SSD, Intel Core i7; 13.5-inch display, 1TB SSD, Intel Core i7; 15.inch display, 256GB SSD, Intel Core i7; 15.inch display, 512GB SSD, and Intel Core i7; and 15-inch display, 1TB SSD, and Intel Core i7.

The 13.5-inch PixelSense Display has a screen resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels (267PPI) with an aspect ratio of 3:2. The 15-inch PixelSense Display has a screen resolution of 3240 x 2160 pixels with aspect ratio of 3:2. The company is claiming 17-hours of battery life (on continuous video playback). The company says it has also improved the Surface Pen.

On the processor side, the models with eight generation Intel Core i7-8650U processors have quad-core and are clocked up to 4.20GHz on Max Turbo. The models with seventh generation Intel Core i5 Core i5-7300U processor are clocked up to 3.50GHz. As for graphics, the 13.5-inch models come with Intel HD Graphics 620 integrated GPU, Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated GPU, or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 discrete GPU w/2GB VRAM across their available SKUs. The 15-inch models have Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated GPU or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 discrete GPU w/6GB VRAM.

All the variants support Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth BT4.1 LE, Xbox Wireless built-in (in 15-inch models). The Surface Book 2 have two USB 3.0 Type A ports, and one USB Type-C port. There is a UHS-II SDXC card reader, one 3.5mm headphone jack, 2 Surface Connect, a 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video, and a 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p Full HD video, dual microphones, and front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Audio Premium.

The Surface Book comes in magnesium casing, and in silver colour option. The base 13-inch model starts at $1,499, and $2,499 for the 15-inch. Preorders of it in the United States will start on November 9, with shipping starting November 16. There is no word on India availability yet.

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Further reading: Microsoft, Microsoft Surface Book 2, Surface Book, Surface Book 2, Surface Book 2 Launch, Surface Book 2 Price, Surface Book 2 Specifications, Surface Pen

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Intel 8th Generation Core Series Launched With ‘Kaby Lake Refresh’ CPUs for Laptops

Highlights The 8th Generation will include multiple architectures at 14nm and 10nm KBL-Refresh claims to offer 40 percent more performance than Kaby Lake Only four CPU models have launched, all designed for mainstream laptops

We’ve known for a while now that Intel will be shipping more than one processor architecture under the 8th generation Core brand. We’ve been expecting a fourth 14nm generation codenamed Coffee Lake this year and the much-delayed 10nm Cannonlake generation in early 2018, but now it has come to light that a third architecture will be clubbed into the 8th generation as well. Simply called Kaby Lake Refresh, this will be the basis of the 8th gen’s U-series processors, which are targeted at mainstream and slim notebooks.

Two weeks ago, Intel announced that the first 8th gen Core CPUs will launch at 8:30pm IST tonight, and while the codename ‘Coffee Lake’ was not specifically brought up, it was widely expected that these would be the first models out of the gate. However, Intel has chosen to unveil Kaby Lake Refresh a few hours before the scheduled event.

Four new U-series 15W processors for laptops are being announced: the Core i7-8650U, Core i7-8550U, Core i5-8350U, and Core i5-8250U. While Kaby Lake Refresh is not a major new architecture, Intel is promising a 40 percent performance improvement compared to the 7th generation and up to 200 percent compared to a five-year-old machine. The most significant reason for this is the doubling of core counts from two to four, while actual design and manufacturing improvements contribute to a lesser extent.

Base speeds range from 1.6GHz to 1.9GHz, while boost speeds range from 3.4GHz to 4.2GHz. Cache sizes are also doubled, to 6MB on Core i5 CPUs and 8MB on Core i7 ones. Hyper-Threading remains exclusive to Core i7 models. The integrated GPU is now called Intel UHD Graphics 620 and is completely unchanged compared to Kaby Lake, except for the name change from HD to UHD to reflect its capabilities. The GPUs of Core i5 models run at 1.1Ghz while those of the Core i7 models run at 1.15GHz.

According to Intel, users can expect up to 10 hours of 4K video playback per charge on a laptop powered by one of these processors, as tested with a 70WHr battery and Windows 10. The company also says that tasks such as photo editing and video rendering are up to 48 percent and 14.7 percent faster on these processors compared to previous-generation ones. However, the major target will be people upgrading from laptops that are several years old. The company is also playing up the benefits of modern experiences such as Windows Hello authentication, voice interaction such as with the Cortana assistant, and stylus input which would not work as well on an older device.

Intel expects that 145 laptop models featuring these four new CPUs will be available in time for this year’s holiday shopping season. There’s no information about how the rest of the 8th generation will shape up, except for a note that desktop processors will launch in fall this year. It is not yet known how different Coffee Lake will be from Kaby Lake Refresh, but it is quite likely that core counts will increase across the board both due to improvements in power efficiency and because of competition from AMD’s Ryzen series. It is also likely that Intel will reserve its 10nm process for ultra-low-power fanless Y-series chips.

Attacking the mainstream laptop segment first is an interesting choice for Intel. Previous generations have focused on Y-series models for ultra-light fanless tablets and 2-in-1s, or S-series models for desktops. Releasing these four CPUs under the 8th Generation banner allows Intel to target buyers during the busy US holiday shopping season

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Tags: Intel, Intel Core, 8th Generation Core, Intel Core i7, Intel Core i5, Core i7, Core i5, 8th Generation Core launch, Coffee Lake, Kaby Lake, Cannonlake, Kaby Lake Refresh

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