Intel's line of powerful Xeon processors previously only available for data centers and workstations will soon come to laptops and netbooks.
Intel has announced a new line of Xeon family of products that can be used for more portable computers. Little is known yet about the Intel Xeon E3-1500M v5 product family, but the chipmaker says laptops running on this processors will start shipping in the fall.
The E3-1500M chips are based on Skylakes 14nm architecture, which should deliver the amount of power required by heavy users for tasks such as big data processing, 3D rendering and 4K video editing, while still allowing the device manufacturer to keep the laptop as light and slim as possible for workers on the go.
Intel already has a line of powerful chips designed specifically for laptops, namely the Core i7-4940MX Extreme Edition. However, the new family of Xeon chips will offer more enterprise-friendly features, such as error-correcting code memory, which automatically detects and repairs errors that might otherwise cause data corruption and system crashes.
The new processors will also offer Intel's vPro technology, which provides hardware-assisted security and productivity features. They also add built-in support for Thunderbolt 3, the new USB-C connector that can allow high-speed data transfers of up to 10 Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 is already supported in the Skylake chips, but they still require their own external controller, but on the Xeon processors, Thunderbolt 3 is baked right into the chips' architecture.
Additionally, Intel says it will provide certifications for apps used for design, engineering and digital content creation, although the company did not specify which apps these will be just yet.
The new family of Xeon processors show that even enterprise-level computing is not immune from the upheavals in the PC industry as more and more users shift from desktop workstations to computing devices they can take with them wherever they go.
"With the increasing popularity of digital creation (4K videos, digital design, etc.), more creative professionals and engineers are seeing a need for workstation-class capabilities in a portable device," says Intel.
The company cites a study conducted by research firm IDC, which says that although the general PC market saw a slump in sales during the last quarter that ended in June, laptop workstations remained one of the brightest spots with its continuous year-over-year growth for the sixth straight quarter.
