Intel’s new chip is faster, has graphics built in

GLOBAL chipmaker Intel on Thursday launched a new range of processors that deliver high quality audio-video capabilities, along with faster computing speeds. Leading vendors like HCL, Wipro, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell are expected to launch over 500 models of devices with the new chips in the coming months.

The new chips, called Intel Core i3, i5 and Core i7 dual core, will have inbuilt graphics capability and 42% faster computing speed.

The new chips will do away with the need to buy a separate graphics card, which are used for gaming or viewing high-definition videos. Intel’s announcement comes even as the semicon giant struggles to tap into the tablet PC market, a segment likely to eat into the desktops and notebooks category in future.

“We have already started shipping the new second-generation chips to PC vendors. Over 20% of the chip’s architecture is devoted to graphics,” said Intel’s India MD, sales and marketing, R Sivakumar.

The second-generation chips have a 32 nanometre architecture, an upgrade from the 45 nanometer chips that existed between 2008 and 2010. There are close to a billion transistors inside a second-generation processor.

Codenamed SandyBridge, the chips were unveiled in New Delhi and at Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show within 24 hours.