Entry-level Intel "Meteor Lake" SKU Appears Online: Core Ultra 5 115U

[T0@st]

Intel's "Meteor Lake" mobile processor family launched last December, with an initial selection comprised of eleven "Core Ultra" SKUs. This week, internet sleuths have stumbled on some new additions—Team Blue has seemingly rolled out new models without much fanfare. Benchleaks discovered an intriguing Geekbench Browser entry that detailed a "Google Rex" Android device specced with an Intel Core Ultra 5 115U CPU. The benchmark database displays two errors—namely the incorrect detection of 10 cores and 10 threads. Team Blue's official product page lists 8 cores and 10 threads—specifically a configuration housing two P-Cores, four E-Cores, and two LP-Cores.

Amusingly, the official datasheet specifies that the Core Ultra 5 115U launched alongside the debut batch of Meteor Lake parts. VideoCardz posits that the chip's weaker iGPU specs separate it from the rest of the pack: "its designation as 'Ultra' might be misleading. In reality, even its graphics have been scaled down to 3 Xe-Cores, making it the sole SKU in the entire lineup with fewer than 4 Xe-Cores. The NPU is still intact and seems to be working at the same speed as the most powerful Meteor Lake chip. This suggests that the 115U could potentially excel as an AI accelerator, prioritizing AI tasks over other functions." This entry-level SKU is not fully out in the wild, but the existence of test platforms (via Geekbench Browser entries) semi-proves that Team Blue and its hardware partners are readying new portable products.



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[Daven]

There needs to be a disclaimer on these kinds of budget products that say something like, ‘Product provides a poor enduser computing experience only.’

 

[TheLostSwede]

It should've been an i3, but then Intel couldn't have charged as much...

 

[tvshacker]

I hope this ends up on a (cheap) NUC/miniPC. It's time to move away from the n100 at the entry level, and AMD doesn't seem to want to throw their hat in the ring at those price points (with AM4),

 

[Wirko]

It's ultra-entry level.

 

[persondb]

There needs to be a disclaimer on these kinds of budget products that say something like, ‘Product provides a poor enduser computing experience only.’

I don't see why it would be a poor user experience, it should have plenty of power between the P and E cores.
The P cores being pretty powerful and the E cores being very similar to Skylake cores, it seems pretty ok.

As someone who suffers from having to use a i5-10210U for work, this would be so much better that it's not even funny.

 

[tvshacker]

As someone who suffers from having to use a i5-10210U for work, this would be so much better that it's not even funny.

The "junior IT" at work uses a desktop with a i5 650 and says he's fine with it. Runs office, winbox, and kaspersky enterprise. (my laptop has a R5 4600H)

 

[persondb]

The "junior IT" at work uses a desktop with a i5 650 and says he's fine with it. Runs office, winbox, and kaspersky enterprise. (my laptop has a R5 4600H)

I think depending on what you need it can be fine. I do have an issue with my work laptop as there is a lot of corporate bloatware and the laptop ends up having thermal throttle issues though.

I do think your work should consider replacing his desktop though, as while it might be fine, he could be losing a lot of time due to it being a 15+ years old dual core.

 

[watzupken]

I don't see why it would be a poor user experience, it should have plenty of power between the P and E cores.
The P cores being pretty powerful and the E cores being very similar to Skylake cores, it seems pretty ok.

As someone who suffers from having to use a i5-10210U for work, this would be so much better that it's not even funny.

For basic usage, I don't think it is a problem. But I feel moving from the i5 10210U is not going to significantly improve your user experience if it is just basic usage. I would expect that under light load, it should mostly be running off the E-cores which is 4c/4t, and at idle, it should be using the LP E-cores. Since you have no control over which cores will be utilized under certain load, hence, I expect P-cores to be parked most cases.

 

[persondb]

For basic usage, I don't think it is a problem. But I feel moving from the i5 10210U is not going to significantly improve your user experience if it is just basic usage. I would expect that under light load, it should mostly be running off the E-cores which is 4c/4t, and at idle, it should be using the LP E-cores. Since you have no control over which cores will be utilized under certain load, hence, I expect P-cores to be parked most cases.

The issue is that there is a ton of bloatware and there is a need to use a lot of things at the same time. E.g. Running Eclipse, VS Code, Docker, Postman, SoapUI, some server locally, web browser, outlook and teams.

My work laptop struggles hard, as it seems to thermal throttle pretty hard.

The 2+4+2 would be a huge upgrade even if it's more like a low end i3.