At IDF Shenzen, Intel made a flurry of announcements, including the news that its new Braswell SoCs are now shipping.
Intel quietly added four new Braswell SKUs to its pricelist just over a week ago, including a new Pentium chip (quad core) and three Celerons (one quad core, two dual core). The Braswell SoCs replace Bay Trail and are designed for 2-in-1s and laptops, but also SFF desktops and AIOs.
Based on the Airmont architecture and built on the tri-gate 14 nm manufacturing process, these Braswell chips should appear in consumer products in time for the crush of back-to-school shopping this year. Intel stated that we should expect some 40 OEM products running Braswell around that timeframe.
Intel said to expect Braswell to offer double the graphics performance of Bay Trail, with more efficient battery life and a lower TDP. The Braswell SoCs offer a TDP of between 4 W and 6 W, while Pentium and Celeron Bay Trail chips are as low as 4.3 W and as high as 10 W, with a number of 7.5 W SKUs in between.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Intel Pentium N3700 | Intel Celeron N3000 | Intel Celeron N3050 | Intel Celeron N3150 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cores / Threads | 4 / 4 | 2 / 2 | 2 / 2 | 4 / 4 |
| Base / Burst Frequency | 1.6 / 2.4 GHz | 1.04 / 2.08 GHz | 1.6 / 2.16 GHz | 1.6 / 2.08 GHz |
| Cache | 2 MB L2 | 2 MB L2 | 2 MB L2 | 2 MB L2 |
| Instruction Set | 64-bit | 64-bit | 64-bit | 64-bit |
| Lithography | 14 nm | 14 nm | 14 nm | 14 nm |
| TDP | 6 W | 4 W | 6 W | 6 W |
| SDP | 4 W | 3 W | 4 W | 4 W |
| Memory | 8 GB DDR3L-1600, dual-channel | 8 GB DDR3L-1600, dual-channel | 8 GB DDR3L-1600, dual-channel | 8 GB DDR3L-1600, dual-channel |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | Intel HD Graphics | Intel HD Graphics |
| Base / Burst Frequency | 400 / 700 MHz | 320 / 600 MHz | 320 / 600 MHz | 320 / 640 MHz |
| Graphics Output | eDP / DP / HDMI | eDP / DP / HDMI | eDP / DP / HDMI | eDP / DP / HDMI |
| Expansion | PCIe 2.0 (4 lanes) | PCIe 2.0 (4 lanes) | PCIe 2.0 (4 lanes) | PCIe 2.0 (4 lanes) |
| USB | 2.0 / 3.0, 5 ports | 2.0 / 3.0, 5 ports | 2.0 / 3.0, 5 ports | 2.0 / 3.0, 5 ports |
| SATA 6 Gbps Ports | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
However, don't let the promise of better graphics performance obscure the fact that these are not performance chips. They're very much aimed at products in the value and entry-level market segments.
One major data point we're still missing on the new Braswell chips is a price point. The more recent Pentium and Celeron Bay Trail quad core chips have "recommended consumer price" points ranging from $82 to $161, but Intel has not released that information for Braswell.
Seth Colaner is the News Director for Tom's Hardware. Follow Seth Colaner @SethColaner. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
