What is icore and generations in laptop?
In: Technology
Core i as in coreI5, or coreI7 etc. are part of the Intel Core line of mid- to high-end consumer, workstation, and enthusiast CPUs (the CPU being like the Brain in the computer that does the thinking, AKA Processing).
The Core line started back with the enhanced Pentium M chips with the Core Solo and Core Duo processors.
Then with the birth of 64 bit architecture Intel released the Core 2 Solo, Duo, Quad, and Extreme.
Each new set of releases came from a new design of microarchitecture which leveraged new technology and enhancements in microprocessor design (smaller size, tighter circuitry, which in turn means more transistors per square inch, and shorter connections between them, which ultimately results in faster processing of the same information). Each new set of designs, Intel deemed “Generations”.
After the Core 2 set of releases they had the Core i line, with the Nehalem (their code name) microarchitecture called the first generation, back in 2008.
These generations continued to be developed and released up through the recent years from Nehalem, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake, Kaby Lake, and currently we’re in the codename Coffee Lake generation of processors, which have a Core i3, i5, i7, and i9 release. Technically we’re actually in the Cannon lake (9th generation) but there’s only a core i3 release for mobile at this time. The next generation, Ice Lake is yet to be released, but will likely be an enhancement on the Architecture of the Kaby/Cannon Lake processors, and will probably be released on a 10nm manufacturing process (10 nanometers, vs 14 nanometers, refers to the size of the aforementioned transistors inside the processor. Remember that smaller means you can fit more inside the chip, and the electrical signals have a shorter distance to travel, resulting in faster speed).
Each level of Core release essentially represents the fact that there are more Cores, meaning more processing units in parallel that can perform functions simultaneously, aka more “threads). The Core i3, for example, has 4 cores capable of processing 4 threads, while the core i9 has 8 cores capable of processing 16 threads. So with the same clock speed (i.e. frequency) the core i9 can do 4 times as much “stuff” as the core i3 in one second of processing time.
It should be noted that the idea of “Generations” isn’t exclusive to laptops. Intel has desktop, mobile, and server releases for many of the generations, based on the market’s needs.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core#Core_i3_5
EDIT: a date
Latest Answers