Intel's Haswell gets mixed reviews from analysts

Rick Merritt, EETimes
(6/5/2013 9:06 PM EDT)

Intel’s new microprocessor, Haswell, won’t revive a sagging PC market or give Intel a huge leg up in tablets from what I hear. SAN JOSE, Calif. – Five microprocessor analysts gave mixed reviews to Haswell, Intel’s latest microprocessor launched June 4 at Computex in Taipei. The net I took away is the chip is a great piece of silicon engineering, but won't revive a slumping traditional PC market or become Intel's main offering in tablets.

Intel originally pitched the design in 2011 as the killer chip for Ultrabooks, its concept for an Apple Air-like ultrathin notebook. To meet that goal, Haswell would be Intel’s lowest power x86 ever and its first chip designed for its 22nm FinFET process.

But the Apple iPad proved to be an even more formidable concept in the market, forcing Intel to drive its targets for Haswell power consumption to even more aggressive lows than it originally planned. An Intel chief architect on the project hailed Haswell as a near home run across the broadest set of tablet, notebook, desktop and server markets Intel ever targeted.

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