At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Intel showcased its latest offerings, unveiling not only its Core Ultra notebook chips with a focus on AI capabilities but also introducing the complete 14th-generation CPU family, catering to gamers and high-performance enthusiasts. The 14th-gen lineup includes the potent “HX” series chips, exemplified by the formidable 24-core i9-14900HX, alongside new mainstream desktop CPUs. In addition, Intel introduced the Core U Processor Series 1, designed for thin and light notebooks, striking a balance between performance and efficiency.
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While the coexistence of Intel’s Core Ultra chips and the 14th-gen hardware may seem bewildering, each platform serves distinct purposes. The Core Ultra chips, suitable for most notebook users, offer commendable speed, excellent gaming performance when coupled with external GPUs, and incorporate Intel’s latest chip technology, including AI-accelerating NPUs. On the other hand, the 14th-gen HX chips target users seeking raw power for extreme gaming and media creation.
The Core i9-14900HX, Intel’s most powerful laptop chip, boasts eight P-cores, 16 E-cores, and a turbo frequency of 5.8GHz. Intel asserts its superiority over AMD’s Ryzen 7945X3D in gaming by 17 percent and positions it as 51 percent faster for multitasking in virtual production scenarios, utilizing Unreal Engine 5’s MetaHuman generator and RealityCapture software. The Core i7-14700HX, with 20 total cores, including four additional E-cores compared to its predecessor, further expands the capabilities of the 14th-gen HX chips, supporting Thunderbolt 5 and 4 connections, Wi-Fi 6E, and discrete hardware for the new Wi-Fi 7 standard.
Intel’s announcement also includes 18 new 14th-gen desktop chips, joining the initial unlocked batch from October. The i9-14900, topping out at 24 cores and reaching up to 5.8GHz, is priced at $549. While Intel notes modest improvements over its 13th-gen predecessor, particularly in specific benchmarks like a 15 percent lead over AMD’s Ryzen 9 7900 in the CrossMark benchmark and a 32 percent advantage in Premiere Pro’s PugetBench.
For slim computers, Intel’s Core U-Series platform takes centre stage, succeeding its previous U-series chips. The lineup includes the Intel Core 7 150U, a 10-core chip hitting speeds of up to 5.4GHz, the mid-range Core 5 120U with similar core counts but slightly slower clock speeds, and the Core 3 100U, a 6-core chip reaching 4.7GHz.
