Intel reveals 8th-gen Core chips; promises 40% speed boost

By Warren Miller, contributing writer

Do you have a 5-year-old computer that is still doing what you need? Intel sees that there are over 450 million computers in homes and businesses that could use a big reboot, and they plan on making it very attractive to upgrade with its new 8^th generation Core devices . Can you be convinced to boot out your current laptop for something twice as fast? Would you hold off on buying a new computer if the next version will be an up-to-40% improvement on current systems? If you’re not sure, let’s look at some specifics.

These new i7 and i5 Cores for mobile devices will run from between 1.6 GHz and 1.9 GHz and should deliver the following features:

• 4K UHD local video playback on a laptop computer for 10 hours straight without recharging — that's a whole season of “Orphan Black”
• Editing photos is up to 50% faster than previous-generation CPUs, and editing video is up to 15 times faster — so you can quickly create your “Doctor Who” top 10s
• Integrated graphics can support up to three 4K external displays — so you can watch three seasons of “Game of Thrones” simultaneously
• Windows Mixed Reality headsets will support some content using built-in graphics — so you can see C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate

Is that enough to convince you? If not, think about these systems as delivering a real 360° viewing experience with mixed-reality headsets coming online from a variety of mainstream manufacturers. Intel’s 8^th -generation devices will make it possible to view, capture, and edit 4K and 360° video. Just think of the possibilities of authoring with that kind of content; will this help mixed reality to really take off? If it did, what kind of content would you want to see?

Image source: Intel.

You would likely want to do more than play Pokémon Go on steroids, although plenty of kids and adults would want to try it out. Perhaps more mainstream would be virtual visits to art galleries, concerts, historical monuments, and amazing natural sites. You might even find it interesting to wander around a different town or city, perhaps before an actual visit. Once there, the 360° virtual guide could help you find the places you’re interested in.

You don’t need to be limited to making your way to real locations with 360° viewing. Want to visit some virtual fictional worlds? You could go behind the scenes, virtually, to Middle Earth, Westeros, Azeroth, or even Earth in the Steam Punk Age. The possibilities are virtually endless.