Roadmap Intel shows hexacore CPUs for laptops in 2018 – update

Intel probably plans to release six-core laptop processors in the second quarter of 2018. These are processors of the upcoming Coffee Lake generation with a tdp of 45 watts. There will also be quad-core variants with a TDP of 15 to 28 watts.

The arrival of the hexacores is apparent from a slide that has been published on the Anandtech forum. Like most Skylake and Kaby Lake processors with a TDP of 45 watts, the Coffee Lake variants will get a GT2 GPU. Coffee Lake laptop processors do appear with the faster GT3e, but that concerns quad-core variants with a TDP of 15 or 28 watts in the U series.

According to previous rumors, the Coffee Lake processors are made at 14nm. This would make it the fourth generation to use that process after Broadwell, Skylake and Kaby Lake. At the end of 2017 there will already be 10nm processors of the Cannon Lake generation, but according to the roadmap in laptops they are only used for economical CPUs in the Y and U series.

Nothing is yet known about the clock speeds of the Coffee Lake generation laptop processors. It is obvious that these are CPUs with hyperthreading, just like the current processors. The hexacore therefore has twelve threads.

According to the roadmap, Kaby Lake processors with four cores will be released before the end of the year. Those chips will succeed current processors such as the Core i7-6700HQ. Intel has not yet officially announced Kaby Lake CPUs in the H-series, but did disclose details about the processors in the U- and Y-series at the end of August.

Update 13:51: The Motley Fool explains the Coffee Lake architecture. These are chips that are based on the Cannon Lake architecture, but are produced using the current 14nm process and are therefore given a slightly different name. Cannon Lake will be made at 10nm, but Intel will initially only use the smaller process to make the most energy-efficient chips in the U and Y series.